Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center Researchers Receive $6.7 million Grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson
were awarded a Susan G. Komen for the Cure Promise Grant of almost $6.7 million
for five years for continued breast cancer research.
The project represents a
multidisciplinary team of scientists from a consortium that also includes Walter
Reed Army Medical Center and DecisionQ Inc. in Washington D.C., as well as the
Windber Research Institute and MDR Global Inc. in Windber, Pa.
The principal investigator, Hallgeir Rui,
M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of Cancer Biology and Medical Oncology at Jefferson
Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. The co-principal investigator
and leader of the clinical investigations associated with the project is Edith
Mitchell, M.D., medical oncologist and clinical professor of Medicine and
Medical Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University and Associate Director of
Diversity Programs for the Kimmel Cancer Center.
The team will use the funds to
investigate methods to optimize selection of patients for breast cancer
treatment. There are two parts to the translational research: laboratory and
clinical.
In the laboratory, Dr. Rui and colleagues
will analyze tumor biomarkers that could possibly be used to stratify patients
and tailor the best therapy to the individual patient.
“Identification of therapy-relevant
biomarkers is a crucial part of breast cancer research, as there are many
different biomarkers that could predict treatment response and outcome, and
serve as targets for treatment,” said Dr. Rui. “There are many subtypes of
breast cancer,, and we want to identify protein biomarker patterns that can be
used to make sure patients are offered the most appropriate therapy.”
On the clinical side, Dr. Mitchell is
leading a clinical trial of a new drug called motesanib. This trial will enroll
approximately 70 patients with triple-negative breast cancer or another form of
aggressive breast cancer that has failed prior therapy. The purpose is to
correlate clinical outcomes with the presence of specific biomarkers.
“Triple-negative breast cancer, which has
an increased frequency in African-American women, is a difficult cancer to
treat,” Dr. Mitchell said. “It often lacks response to many commonly used
treatments; therefore, there is a great need to identify more effective
therapies for this patient population. Understanding molecular pathways may
enhance opportunities to develop personalized approaches to the treatment of
breast cancer. This is particularly important, since approximately 40,000
patients a year die from the disease in the United States alone.”
Media Only Contact:
Emily Shafer
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Phone: (215) 955-6300
Published: 4/15/2009