Alex Huang MD, PhD has received a $450,000 Basic Science grant from the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation  to study targeted approaches for effectively eliminating metastatic osteosarcoma.

"We're very excited to study an important cancer that occurs in adolescents, young adults and children," said Huang, who is a professor of pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and co-Leader of the Hematopoietic and Immune Cancer Biology Program of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. "We are now on the cusp of clinical trials, and look forward to offering hope to young patients with metastatic osteosarcoma in the near future." more>

Cleveland Clinic researchers have confirmed for the first time a mechanistic link between the gene HSD17B4 and deadly, treatment-resistant prostate cancer.

The research, led by  Nima Sharifi, MD, co-Leader of the GU Malignancies Program at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Center and staff in the Cleveland Clinic  Lerner Research Institute  Department of Cancer Biology, shows that men who lack a certain subtype of the gene may be more susceptible to aggressive prostate cancer that does not respond to treatment.

Dr. Sharifi and colleagues built upon their  earlier seminal work in which they discovered that a gene called HSD3B1, when altered, enables prostate tumors to evade treatment and proliferate. They went on to show that the presence of this gene variant does in fact change treatment outcomes and overall survival in men.

In the current study published in Journal  Cell Reports [Ko, Cell Rep, 2018], Dr. Sharifi and his team studied a related gene, called HSD17B4. Previous research showed that HSD17B4 encodes enzymes that inactivate androgens (male hormones). Since androgens are essential for prostate cancer growth, inactivating them should prevent cancer advancement. But these enzymes have also been observed to be more abundant in advanced prostate cancer. Therefore, until now it remained unclear whether the enzymes promote or suppress prostate cancer. more>

Investigators at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case CCC), Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine (SOM) and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center (UHCMC) have developed a simple, swallowable test for early detection of Barrett's esophagus (BE) that offers promise for preventing deaths from esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Barrett's esophagus is the precursor lesion of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), a highly lethal cancer with more than 80 percent mortality at five years. Lethal EAC can be prevented when patients are diagnosed at the precursor stage of BE, and early foci of near cancerous changes (dysplasias) are ablated. However, detection of BE has traditionally necessitated endoscopy, an expensive and invasive test that requires sedation and is thus unsuitable as a method for wide BE screening. In a significant step forward, the team has developed an easy, five minute outpatient test that is more than 90 percent sensitive for detecting individuals with BE. Patients simply swallow a vitamin pill sized balloon that swabs the esophagus, and that, after retrieval through the mouth, is tested for DNA abnormalities that the investigators discovered are diagnostic of BE. A study describing the development of the test and the results from its clinical trial in patients has been published in the January 17 issue of  Science Translational Medicine [Moinova, Sci Transl Med, 2018].

The swallowable balloon device was developed by Case CCC members  Amitabh Chak, MD (Professor of Medicine and head of the Barrett's Esophagus Translational Research Network, BETRNet), Joseph Willis, MD (Professor and Pathology Vice-Chair for Clinical Affairs), and Sanford Markowitz, MD, PhD (Co-Leader of the GI Cancer Genetics Program at the Case CCC, Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics and head of the Case GI SPORE). Helen Moinova, PhD, study first author and instructor at CWRU SOM, led a parallel effort within the Markowitz laboratory to identify DNA changes diagnostic of Barrett's. Using genome-wide sequencing approaches, Dr. Moinova identified two genes, VIM and CCNA1, that each get chemically modified by DNA methylation in BE. Dr. Moinova's DNA methylation test was more than 90 percent accurate in detecting BE or in recognizing an esophagus as normal in a set of more than 300 esophagus endoscopy samples collected by Dr. Chak's multicenter BETRNet team. Under sponsorship from the SPORE and BETRNet programs, Dr. Chak then led a clinical trial in which 86 individuals were tested using the swallowable esophageal balloon device. Dr. Moinova's DNA assay of these balloon samples was again more than 90 percent accurate, with 90.3 percent sensitivity for detecting individuals with BE and 91.7 percent specificity for correctly identifying individuals who were normal. more>

Join us Friday, February 2 at noon in Wolstein Research Building Room 1-413 for the weekly Cancer Center Seminar Series to hear Jason S. Lewis, PhD, the Emily Tow Jackson Chair in Oncology, Vice Chair for Research for the Department of Radiology and Chief of the  Radiochemistry and Imaging Sciences Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discuss " Molecular Imaging in Cancer: PET Imaging Biomarkers." 

Letter of Intent Deadline: February 1, 2018
Application Deadline: April 2, 2018

The American Cancer Society offers a limited number of grants to mid-career investigators who have made seminal contributions that have changed the direction of basic cancer research. Furthermore, it is expected that these investigators will continue to provide leadership in their research area. Up to two awards are made annually for a five-year term that can be renewed once. The award of up to $80,000 per year (direct costs only) may be used for salary or research project support.

Deadline: Feb 1, 2018

Bladder Cancer Research Innovation Award

LOI Deadline: Feb 21, 2018

In 2014, BCAN announced the  Bladder Cancer Research Innovation Award of $300,000 over a two-year period for an experienced investigator who will break new ground in the field of  bladder cancer.  The aim of the award is to support exceptionally novel and creative projects with great potential to produce breakthroughs in the management of  bladder cancer.