Early Detection for Ovarian Cancer
Animesh Barua, Ph.D.
“In a time of economic uncertainty, grants like these from the Prevent Cancer Foundation are essential for researchers to find cancer prevention strategies,” explains Animesh Barua, Ph. D. at Rush University and Foundation grant recipient. “Ovarian cancer is a fatal gynecologic cancer for women, and early detection is key to prevention and survival. The Prevent Cancer Foundation grant enables me to carry out this innovative research in prevention.”
The Foundation grant is the first step for Dr. Barua’s medical research that starts in a laboratory, but can be one of the catalysts for ovarian cancer prevention and early detection. Currently there is no early detection method for ovarian cancer; as most patients are diagnosed in the late stages of the disease. Detecting ovarian cancer early increases patient survival by 80-90 percent. Therefore, early stage detection and prevention offers the most effective and promising means of control.
Dr. Barua wants to combine enhanced ultrasound with a serum marker to create a reliable and sensitive screening method for ovarian cancer. He is working toward a medical discovery that could lead to a higher ovarian cancer survival rate. Together, Dr. Barua and the Foundation are making ovarian cancer more detectable.
Clearing Up Colon Cancer
Janne Nappi, Ph.D.
Funding life-saving research is what the Foundation stands for and colorectal cancer prevention is one of the eight preventable cancers that Prevent Cancer focuses on. That is why funding Dr. Janne Nappi, Ph.D at Massachusetts General Hospital work was such a perfect fit for the Foundation. While current screening for colorectal cancer detects polyps, it is not easy to detect the flat growths, known as non-polypoid lesions. It is thought that these flat lesions can lead to tumor growth. Dr. Nappi aims to develop a computer-aided detection scheme for the early detection of these flat lesions using virtual colonoscopy. “This would increase the accuracy and consistency of radiologists’ interpretation in detection of these lesions,” explains Dr. Nappi. “With this early detection, we can prevent the number two leading cause of death in the U.S.”
The Foundation is providing life-saving funding by enabling Dr. Nappi to improve the accuracy of tomographic colonography (CTC) by developing sophisticated computer algorithms that analyze the surface of the colon and indicate the locations of those hard-to-detect flat growths automatically to radiologists. Such computer-aided detection (CAD) is likely to maximize the detection accuracy and consistency of human readers in CTC, thereby providing an effective minimally invasive approach for preventing colorectal cancer.
Thanks to funding from the Prevent Cancer Foundation and Dr. Nappi’s keen research initiative, a catalyst in colon cancer prevention is on its way.
Making Leukemia Detectable
Gregor Reid, Ph.D.
Leukemia is the most common cancer in children. Current treatments for this disease cure many patients, but are extremely harsh and can give rise to significant long-term health problems. In addition, a significant proportion of patients are not cured, and for these children, the prognosis is poor. Clearly, new treatment strategies for this disease are urgently required and that is where Dr. Gregor Reid, Ph.D. at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Prevent Cancer Foundation come in.
“Many of the genetic abnormalities that contribute to childhood leukemia occur during fetal development, but that disease does not develop for months or even years. Cells containing these abnormalities must, therefore, persist in the children until secondary events occur that trigger disease,” explains Dr. Reid. “Many children at risk of developing leukemia could, therefore, be identified by examining blood samples collected at birth for the presence of specific genetic changes.”
By funding this research, the Foundation is supporting Dr. Reid’s work to determine if early immune system-based intervention strategies will prevent leukemia development in “at-risk” (those with genetic abnormalities) individuals. This research will test the ground-breaking theory that could be used to significantly reduce the number of children who get leukemia.
The Prevent Cancer Foundation research support fosters development of children’s cancer prevention strategies, like Dr. Reid’s ground-breaking study, leading to another possible catalyst in childhood cancer prevention.
Prostate Cancer Prevention
Dr. Karen Sfanos, Ph.D.
“What became very apparent to me early on in my graduate studies was that family history confers one of the greatest and real risks for prostate cancer development. However, hereditary prostate cancer can only account for a certain percentage of prostate cancer diagnoses, and prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among men in the United States.”
Dr. Karen Sfanos, Ph.D. a research fellow at Johns Hopkins University, with help from the Prevent Cancer Foundation, is working find how bacterial infections in the prostate, particularly those involving pro-inflammatory bacteria, could play a major role in prostate cancer development.
“At least 15−20 percent of all human cancers are believed to be caused by infection and/or chronic inflammation,” explains Dr. Sfanos. “My hope is that this research will ultimately lead to the discovery of a species or possibly multiple species of bacteria that are specifically associated with prostatic inflammation and subsequent prostate cancer development. If the hypothesis that bacterial infections in the prostate, particularly those involving pro-inflammatory bacteria, may play a role in prostate cancer development is true, prostate cancer could be prevented with something as simple as an antibiotic.”
The Prevent Cancer Foundation fellowship helps Dr. Sfanos establish herself as a young investigator and catalyst dedicated cancer prevention researcher.