Transformation T Able O F C Ontents
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Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation ANNUAL REPORT 2006 TRANSFORMATION T ABLE O F C ONTENTS 1 From the President 2 Research Grants and Fellowships 15 Community Outreach and Education 18 Policy and Advocacy 19 Special Events 21 Board of Directors, Medical Advisory Board and Scientific Review Panel 25 Our Donors 40 Financial Highlights The mission of the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation is cancer prevention and early detection through research, education and community outreach to all populations, including children and the underserved. FROM THE PRESIDENT One cell, exquisite in design, shapes all the Foundation’s activities, from our research and educational replicating itself and communicating programs to our community outreach and advocacy work. critical messages to keep the complex Our first line of defense is educating people about simple machinery of the human body humming. lifestyle changes they can make that will keep cells health. That’s true Picture perfect, but vulnerable to cancer’s primary prevention. Now we also have a growing arsenal of pharma- assault and dangerous transformations. ceutical and dietary chemopreventive agents aimed at blocking This transformation, once considered dangerous activity deep within cells that may lead to cell mutation unyielding to change, is now regarded as a and cancer. We can preempt cancer through the use of precision tools fortuitous opportunity. Cancer prevention that identify precancerous tissue to be removed, and we are creating scientists ask themselves, “How can we thwart innovative techniques that can pinpoint tumors earlier when they are the risky behavior of errant cells, and what smaller and more easily treated. interventions can we develop to protect and Our expanding knowledge of cancer biology is also helping restore the body’s natural equilibrium?” to transform cancer into a manageable, chronic disease as we learn Just three decades ago, cancer control to predict who will benefit from different therapies and how to deliver was focused on one end point: treatment of more personalized, less toxic and more effective treatment. the disease, often in its latest stages. Over This is a dramatic change in how we deal with cancer. While still time the cancer continuum has expanded to a devastating illness, it is less intimidating and more manageable than include early detection and prevention. As ever. All the Foundation’s activities during the last two decades have we have learned more about the complex helped instigate this profound alteration in the cancer perspective. molecular mechanisms that play a role in And every day this year and into the next decade, we will continue to cancer development, the approach has be an important catalyst of this critical transformation. expanded to cancer control. Sincerely, Instead of regarding cancer as a single event treated with standard therapeutic options, it is now seen as a series of events, Carolyn R. Aldigé a process that provides us with a number of Founder and President opportunities for intervention. This knowledge ANNUAL REPORT2006 1 L UNG C ANCER R ESEARCH CONSEQUENCE OF ACTION In one suburban Philadelphia high school where tobacco is a dangerous temptation luring teens into a risky addiction and a perilous future, Dr. Daniel Rodriguez is using the school as a proving ground where a critical transformation is at work. Kids in jeopardy are becoming healthy adolescents. Rodriguez, a behavioral scientist funded by the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation (CRPF) at the University of Pennsylvania, is on a quest that began years ago on the streets of his hometown. When he was just a teenager him- self, the Washington, D.C., native would walk miles from home with his friends into the heart of Georgetown. The weekend jaunts turned into an important outlet of physical activity for Rodriguez and sparked a lifelong interest that became the source of his professional ambitions. He wanted to understand the power of physical activity. Can it change our attitudes and our lives? Can the simple act of exercise keep children and adolescents safe “ACTIVITIES INVOLVING ADULT from harmful substances? Rodriguez tested his theory this SUPERVISION, SUCH AS BALLET past spring when he surveyed 400 10th graders in one school district outside Philadelphia. The students were questioned OR KARATE, MAY ACTUALLY in depth about their smoking habits and history of physical PREVENT SMOKING.” Dr. Daniel Rodriguez activity, with some surprising results. “The students reported involvement with 64 different types of physical activity, from kickball to rollerblading,” Rodriguez says. “There was an amazing variety. But the “It’s simply kids hanging out with friends,” he says, “and initial findings seem to indicate physical activity alone isn’t that can mean peer pressure and unhealthy behaviors, enough of a deterrent to smoking, and some activities, including smoking. such as skateboarding, may even pose a risk. “Other activities involving adult supervision, such as “Kids who engage in certain activities, especially ballet or karate, may actually prevent smoking,” Rodriguez extreme activities like skateboarding, appear more likely to says. The bottom line? Children need adult supervision. smoke,” Rodriguez says. Why? While individual activities may “When coaches, parents and teachers set rules and monitor be filled with physical exertion, they are often unsupervised. behavior, teenagers smoke less often. And the activity doesn’t even have to be physical. 2 THE CANCER RESEARCH AND PREVENTION FOUNDATION “Our results also indicate that kids are more likely to up, get involved and take responsibility for helping children smoke if they see their parents smoking inside their homes,” grow into caring, healthy intelligent grownups.” Rodriguez adds. “That isn’t news to those of us who are Now Rodriguez is hoping to expand his research and parents,” he says, “but it has been eye-opening to realize how develop a nationwide pilot program, based on the data produced much influence parents have on their children’s behavior.” through his CRPF grant. “It has been a tremendous experi- Despite the litany of good and bad influences, ence,” Rodriguez says, “and I’m optimistic that what we are Mom and Dad continue to be their children’s role models. learning will make a real difference in the lives of children.” “More than ever,” Rodriguez cautions, “adults need to step ANNUAL REPORT2006 3 PROSTATE CANCER RESEARCH INVESTIGATIVE VERVE In one California laboratory, basic science is powered by pure imagination and creativity is let loose on the laws of logic. That’s where tumor immunologist Dr. Gang Zeng is crafting his masterwork, using the robust serum of the body’s sensitive immune system to create a more effective prostate cancer detection tool. Born to a family of physicians in the Shandong Province of China, the CRPF-funded researcher is an assistant professor of urology at the University of California at Los Angeles. It has been more than a decade since he left his home to pursue graduate studies in the United States. In 1997, armed with his newly earned American doctorate, Zeng “IN EARLY DETECTION, began a five-year stint at the National Cancer Institute under the mentorship of world-renowned cancer immunologist WE ARE LOOKING FOR Dr. Steven Rosenberg. A TEST THAT IS HIGHLY “Dr. Rosenberg helped me understand how basic SPECIFIC AND A CLEAR science can make a real difference in people’s lives. That’s what I want to do—translate the fundamentals of basic INDICATION OF EARLY science into improved patient care. It’s a family tradition STAGE CANCER.” that I am happy to continue,” Zeng says. Dr. Gang Zeng Today he is using immunology to fashion a tool that may someday complement the widely used prostate specific antigen (PSA) test for prostate cancer detection. While the PSA test has played a significant role in reducing prostate cancer deaths, it has serious limitations. “An elevated PSA level doesn’t automatically mean to Zeng. “When our bodies are attacked from the outside by prostate cancer. We call that low specificity. That means that a virus, for example, a single antibody is produced to fight it,” the antigen is not a pure target for detection of the disease,” he says. “That means we can search for one target for diagnosis Zeng says. “And in early detection, we are looking for a test that and early detection. But the immune response to cancer varies is highly specific and a clear indication of early stage cancer.” from person to person and may involve multiple antibodies. Tumors can even fool our bodies into believing that a malignant The answer may be found in the body’s unique cell is nothing out of the ordinary.” immune response to the “homegrown invader,” according 4 THE CANCER RESEARCH AND PREVENTION FOUNDATION Still Zeng isn’t discouraged. “We have come a long “epitope array,” a panel of proteins that appear to be specific way in the last ten years, and sophisticated technology to prostate cancer tissue and produce unique antibodies. is helping us identify multiple offending proteins and their Preliminary tests on human prostate cancer tissue corresponding antibodies.” show remarkable specificity. While this is just the beginning The painstaking chore of synthesizing proteins for stage of research, it is critical to the future of Zeng’s long- testing in the laboratory is time consuming and expensive, range research goal. “The Foundation’s funding is enabling but with the assistance of computer analysis, Zeng is able to me to make this research real and to ultimately prove the create proteins and generate comprehensive analytical data value of the immunological tool to the detection of that reveal critical information. He has already developed an prostate cancer.” ANNUAL REPORT2006 5 BREAST CANCER RESEARCH ONE DEDICATED SCIENTIST VS. A PAIR OF DANGEROUS GENES Two genes make powerful twin targets. Coupled within breast cancer cells, the genes are double trouble, but they may also offer a telling signal to communicate a woman’s risk and increase her chance for a cure.