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If clinical pharmacologist Scott Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., is right, a simple test for a marker involved in traveler’s diarrhea will help provide surgeons and oncologists with a more accurate picture of the extent of colorectal cancer in patients.

Dr. Waldman, professor and chair of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center (KCC) in Philadelphia, will discuss the test and a just-completed, five-year National Institutes of Health-backed clinical trial this Friday, February 29, 2008 at a colorectal cancer symposium held at Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

The Scientific and Clinical Update on Colorectal Cancer features some of the latest reports on both research developments and clinical advances in the field. Some of the topics to be covered include new developments in radiation therapy, new techniques for imaging, including PET/CT, studies on the latest drugs against metastatic colorectal cancer and new screening guidelines. The conference will be held in room 101 in the Bluemle Life Sciences Building, 233 S. 9^th Street, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

On Thursday, Jefferson specialists will discuss colon cancer prevention and new treatments at a Meet the Experts event at Loews Philadelphia Hotel, 1201 Market Street. Lectures begin at 5:30 p.m.

Approximately 140,000 Americans will develop colorectal cancer this year, and about 50,000 will die from the disease, making it the second-leading cause of cancer death in the nation. 

“At Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center, we are focused on identifying new therapies for patients with colorectal cancer,” explains Kimmel Cancer Center director Richard Pestell, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President for Oncology Services at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. “These events provide opportunities to highlight both KCC experts and some of the new advances in research and in the clinic.

“The cancer center has truly evolved from the bench to the bedside in gastrointestinal cancer,” Dr. Pestell says, citing Jefferson’s rich tradition of achievement and innovation in colorectal cancer research, treatment and prevention. He points to some examples, such as discoveries made in the molecular genetics regulating genetic instability, a better understanding of mechanisms of action of cancer therapeutics using mouse models and the development of clinical practice guidelines nationwide.

Dr. Waldman, for example, hopes that the test he is evaluating will enable doctors to determine if a cancer has spread from the colon to the lymph nodes, and at the same time, result in better prognoses and treatment. In the end, the findings could lead to a blood test that could tell patients whether their colorectal cancer thought cured has returned.

In addition, Dr. Pestell notes, Dr. Waldman has also done “groundbreaking work demonstrating that colon cancer is an endocrine disease, which is an important conceptual breakthrough.”

Other recent examples of Kimmel Cancer Center researchers’ innovative work include:

• Colon cancer gene modifiers. Arthur Buchberg, Ph.D., and Linda Siracusa, Ph.D., both associate professors of Microbiology and Immunology at Jefferson Medical, have identified colon cancer gene “modifiers” that affect cancer susceptibility.
• Colon cancer prevention. Ronald Myers, Ph.D., professor of Cancer Biology, recently received $1.8 million from the American Cancer Society to continue his efforts to find new and better ways to increase colon cancer screening among African-Americans, a group disproportionately affected by the disease.
• Clinical trial participation. Medical oncologist Edith Mitchell, M.D., clinical professor of Medical Oncology and Medicine, continues to be a leader in multicenter clinical trials looking at the latest therapies against metastatic colorectal cancer.
• Colon cancer progression. Basic research in Dr. Pestell’s laboratory has shown that the gene cyclin D1 plays an important role in colon cancer progression