mesothelioma

Posted by Elizabeth Doran / The Post-Standard

Megan Shore glances away as Mark Bailey of Tully thanks those in attendance at last May's benefit lacrosse game held in honor of his wife, Patricia Bailey. This year's event will be held May 21, and will again raise money for breast-cancer research in Patricia Bailey's name. She died last May after a two-year battle with cancer.

This year's game will be at 7 p.m. May 21 at Tully High School, and is sponsored in partnership with the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund of Central New York.

Tully will host Bishop Ludden in the game, and all proceeds from ticket sales, a chicken barbecue, concession sales, raffles, T-shirt sales and more will go to the fund. All the lacrosse teams from New York State High School's Section Three have been invited to attend.

All the Tully girls will wear donated pink jerseys at the event to signal their support for the cause. Syracuse University Girls' Lacrosse players are scheduled to be on hand for autographs and additional events throughout the evening. The total raised for this event will be announced at half-time of the game.

A $50,000 research grant has been established by the Baldwin foundation in Bailey's name, said Beth Baldwin, the group's executive director.

Mark Bailey, Pat's husband, said he's overwhelmed at all the support.

"There's an awful lot of emotion that goes into all this," said Bailey, whose wife was just 48 when she died after a two-year battle with the disease. "It's amazing how this whole small community has come together for this."

It's been a difficult year for the Baileys, but Bailey's daughter Taylor, 16; and Jenna, 12, are keeping busy with soccer, softball, dance and more.

"The girls are a source of strength to me," he said, "and we have a really close family. Five of the six siblings in Pat's family live in the Tully area."

Baldwin said Tully has united to fight this disease, spurred on by Bailey's untimely death." What happened last year with Pat Bailey dying the same day as the fundraiser makes your hair stand on end," she said. "And here's this little tiny town and look at all they've done. They are really making a difference."

Dennis Kennedy, Tully lacrosse coach, said about 500 T-shirts have been donated in Pat's memory. Tully High School graduate Mary Doody, who now lives in Syracuse, designed a logo for the front and back of the shirts that also will be used on literature from the local Baldwin foundation.

"Tully is a small community, but there is so much support here," Kennedy said. "It's a cause that's really touched all of us."

The tool, called the Nanofountain Probe, functions in two different ways: in one mode, the probe acts like a fountain pen, wherein drug-coated nanodiamonds serve as the ink, allowing researchers to create devices by "writing" with it. The second mode functions as a single-cell syringe, permitting direct injection of biomolecules or chemicals into individual cells.

The research was led by Horacio Espinosa, professor of mechanical engineering, and Dean Ho, assistant professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering, both at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern. Their results were recently published online in the scientific journal Small.

The probe could be used both as a research tool in the development of next-generation cancer treatments and as a nanomanufacturing tool to build the implantable drug delivery devices that will apply these treatments. The potential of nanomaterials to revolutionize drug delivery is emergent in early trials, which show their ability to moderate the release of highly toxic chemotherapy drugs and other therapeutics.

This provides a platform for drug-delivery schemes with reduced side effects and improved targeting.

“This is an exciting development that complements our previous demonstrations of direct patterning of DNA, proteins and nanoparticles,” says Espinosa.

Using the Nanofountain Probe, the group injected tiny doses of nanodiamonds into both healthy and cancerous cells. This technique will help cancer researchers investigate the efficacy of new drug-nanomaterial systems as they become available.

The group also used the same Nanofountain Probes to pattern dot arrays of drug-coated nanodiamonds directly on glass substrates. The production of these dot arrays, with dots that can be made smaller than 100 nanometers in diameter, provides the proof of concept by which to manufacture devices that will deliver these nanomaterials within the body.

The work addresses two major challenges in the development and clinical application of nanomaterial-mediated drug-delivery schemes: dosage control and high spatial resolution.

In fundamental research and development, biologists are typically constrained to studying the effects of a drug on an entire cell population because it is difficult to deliver them to a single cell.

To address this issue, the team used the Nanofountain Probe to target and inject single cells with a dose of nanodiamonds.

“This allows us to deliver a precise dose to one cell and observe its response relative to its neighbors,” Ho says. “This will allow us to investigate the ultimate efficacy of novel treatment strategies via a spectrum of internalization mechanisms.”

Beyond the broad research focused on developing these drug-delivery schemes, manufacturing devices to execute the delivery will require the ability to precisely place doses of drug-coated nanomaterials. Ho and colleagues previously developed a polymer patch that could be used to deliver chemotherapy drugs locally to sites where cancerous tumors have been removed. This patch is embedded with a layer of drug-coated nanodiamonds, which moderate the release of the drug.

The patch is capable of controlled and sustained low levels of release over a period of months, reducing the need for chemotherapy following the removal of a tumor.

“An attractive enhancement will be to use the Nanofountain Probe to replace the continuous drug-nanodiamond films currently used in these devices with patterned arrays composed of multiple drugs,” Ho says. “This allows high-fidelity spatial tuning of dosing in intelligent devices for comprehensive treatment.”

The research team at the Academia Sinica has proved that a combination of anti-cancermonoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with cytokines (natural hormones that help the immune system) is an effective anti-cancer therapy, according to a press statement released by Taiwan's research institute.

The new immunotherapy treatment pioneered by the research team headed by Alice Yu, deputy director of Academia Sinica's Genomics Research Center, is the first study in the world that confirms that immunotherapy is effective in improving cure rates for this childhood cancer, the statement said.

Yu, a pediatrician, has been working on the therapy for more than 20 years. She completed the Phase I and Phase II trials of this antibody at the University of California in San Diego.

The latest phase III trial was sponsored by the U.S.-based Children's Oncology Group (COG), a cancer research organization, and the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health in the United States. The latest results included children with neuroblastoma from many parts of the world.

Neuroblastoma is a malignant cancer of early childhood in which the cancer cells arise from the nerve cells in the neck, chest or abdomen.

It is the most common cancer diagnosed in the first year of life and is responsible for 15 percent of cancer-related deaths in children.

The Phase III study showed that children with high risk neuroblastoma receiving the new antibody-based immunotherapy (chimeric anti-GD2 antibody ch14.18) have a 20 percent better chance of living free of cancer, a significantly improved cure rate.

So far, Yu said, all U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved therapeutic anti-cancer mAbs or vaccines are directed against protein or glycoprotein antigens. “The Phase III clinical trial is the first mAb targeting a glycolipid that has been shown to be effective,” Yu said.”

More importantly, she added, this is the first study that proves that immunotherapy is effective in improving cure rates for this childhood cancer, and her team is now focusing on making sure immunotherapy can be available to all children with this disease and on improving results in the future.

The teens modeled the latest threads in the second annual "Pink is the New Black" fashion show and fundraiser to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Scarsdale seniors Zoe Katz and Danielle Pack, both 18, organized the show again after raising $24,000 for the foundation last year.

"We are both connected to breast cancer and we both felt like we wanted to do something for the organization," said Katz, whose mother died of breast cancer in 2004. Pack's aunt died from the cancer more than a decade ago.

"Ultimately, we know we are not the only ones effected by this disease," Katz said.

Bloomingdale's sponsored the event at its White Plains store and provided the wardrobe, including Marc Jacobs and Diane Von Furstenberg for the ladies and Hugo Boss and Ralph Lauren for the men.

In addition to selling tickets for the show and collecting donations, the teens raffled gift baskets, gift certificates for local restaurants including The Melting Pot and an autographed photo of Giants' wide receiver Amani Toomer.

"It makes us proud as a company, store and organization to help these young girls' visions become a reality," Bloomingdale's public relations manager Meryl Lefkowitz said.

The two credit their teachers, Ben Sawyer and Rashid Silvera, as well as their fashion-show committee of about 50 friends and volunteers for helping them put on the show.

Sawyer complimented the teens for taking complete responsibility for the show, including negotiating a venue and finding sponsorship in a tough economy.

"At this point, all the hard work is done, its time to have fun," he said at the show.

Katz's father, Steven, attended the fashion show with family and friends.

"I'm extremely proud of her," he said. "She took the ball and ran with it. She took a negative and turned it into something positive. And they dedicated this to her mom and her aunt. It's very moving."

Rockford, Mich. (WZZM) - Thousands of people walked to raise money for cancer research this weekend.

Rockford was one of four Kent County cities holding Relay for Life events. Wyoming, East Grand Rapids and Comstock Park also held rundraising events.

Saturday, more than 250 cancer survivors took part in Rockford's survivor's ceremony. Our own Juliet Dragos emceed the ceremony.

The survivors then did one lap around the track.

The American Cancer Society also held registration for the Cancer Prevention Study Three, or CPS-3 at the Rockford Relay event.

Organizers say they used up all of the registration packets, 472 people signed up to take part in the 30 year study.

by Jill Sakai

UW-Madison cancer researcher Jing Zhang received a Shaw Scientist Award last week from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation to support her novel research on the roles cancer stem cells may play in the causes and treatment of cancer.

The Shaw Award — a $200,000 unrestricted prize — provides needed support to young scholar-scientists engaged in groundbreaking research in the fields of genetics, cell biology and cancer research at a critical stage in their careers.

"Unrestricted funding for scientists engaged in research is increasingly rare," says Doug Jansson, president of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. "This award often provides support for outstanding, young scientists early in their careers. In many cases, researchers are able to continue their important work without interruption due to the very generous funding provided by the Shaw Award."

Zhang, an assistant professor in the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research in the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, studies the genetic mechanisms that lead normal cells to become cancerous, with a focus on blood cancers like leukemia.

She is investigating where cancer stem cells arise and how they evolve during tumor progression and cancer treatment. Understanding whether and how cancer cell behaviors may differ from those of normal cells is critical to developing effective cancer treatments, she says.

"I am hoping that results from my work will identify new drug targets that can selectively eradicate cancer stem cells in certain types of tumors," Zhang says.

She is currently working with clinical oncologists at UW-Madison to apply her findings to juvenile and adult leukemia patients.

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation created the Shaw Scientist Award from the James D. Shaw and Dorothy Shaw Fund. Dorothy Shaw, widow of prominent Milwaukee attorney James D. Shaw, endowed the fund with a $4.5 million bequest. She directed that part of her fund be used to advance research in biochemistry, biological science and cancer research at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee.

Since the first grants were made in 1982, the Shaw Award has provided more than $11 million in grants to support cutting-edge research at the two institutions.

Mesothelin, a protein found on the surface of cells, may be a promising new target for treating mesothelioma, as well as several other types of cancers, according to a recent study in the journal, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. This protein might also help doctors diagnose certain cancers.

The reason why mesothelin has captured researchers’ attention as a potential therapeutic target has to do with the way it is distributed in the body. In healthy people, mesothelin is only found in small amounts in cells lining the lungs, abdominal cavity, and heart. However, this protein is produced in higher amounts by mesothelioma, ovarian, and pancreatic cancer cells.

To attack these cancers, researchers are looking at using specialized antibodies (a type of immune system protein) that hone in on mesothelin while bypassing normal cells. Several research teams are already conducting studies using mouse and combination mouse-human antibodies against mesothelin, and the results so far have been promising.

However, there is a concern that patients’ immune systems might recognize animal antibodies as foreign and mistakenly attack them. “This reaction by the immune system is a severe side effect, and makes it risky to re-administer the treatment agent to patients,” explains Yang Feng, PhD, a biologist with the Center for Cancer Research Nanobiology Program of the National Cancer Institute.

To help prevent this type of immune response, a team of researchers led by Drs. Feng and Dimiter S. Dimitrov investigated the use of a human monoclonal antibody—m912—against mesothelin.

They first tested the antibody’s ability to recognize mesothelin on cells taken from epidermoid cancer (a type of cancer that affects the lining of the respiratory and digestive tracts). Even at low concentrations, m912 was able to attach to mesothelin on the epidermoid cancer cells, without binding to healthy cells.

The m912 also bound to mesothelin on ovarian cancer cells, although higher concentrations were needed than with the epidermoid cancer cells. The authors say this is because ovarian cells naturally contain smaller amounts of mesothelin.

On its own, m912 was not able to kill cancer cells in test tubes. However, with the addition of immune blood cells called peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) taken from healthy donors, m912 was able to mediate the killing of cancer cells. It was not toxic to healthy cells. This means m912 can potentially be used as a single agent for treating mesothelin-positive cancers, Dr. Feng says.

In addition to its potential use in cancer treatment, mesothelin is also being investigated as a diagnostic marker.

Workers who have been exposed to asbestos (a major risk factor for mesothelioma) show high levels of mesothelin in their blood years before they are formally diagnosed with mesothelioma. Dr. Feng says antibodies to mesothelin could be used to detect the protein in the blood of cancer patients, which could help both diagnose the disease and determine a patient’s prognosis.

Before m912 can be used to diagnose or treat cancer, it needs to be tested further. “The next logical step is to test it in an animal model first,” according to Dr. Feng.

After that, human studies will help determine whether this protein might prove to be a safe and effective cancer treatment.

Innova Biosciences and Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the commercialization arm of Cancer Research UK, signed a license agreement they hope will lead to the development new cancer research tools.

The deal, centered on the development of antibody conjugates against novel oncology targets, will give Innova access to antibodies developed by CRT laboratories.

Innova will use these antibodies in combination with its labels for the development of a portfolio of antibody conjugate tools, primarily for cancer-related research, says Brian Carpenter, Innova’s sales and marketing manager.

Established in 2002, U.K.-based Innova specializes in bioconjugation technologies, products, and services.  The company’s one-step conjugation method, Lightning-Link™, directionally couples the antibody to the label (and not to itself) in a controlled manner, to create high-quality stable conjugates, Innova claims.

The technology involves no separation steps and requires hands-on time of less than 30 seconds. Recovery of antibody is claimed to be close to 100%. The first Lightning-Link kit was launched in 2006, and there are now 44 kits available from Innova, Carpenter adds.

In addition to its Lightning Link kits, Innova exploits its technologies via a range of services. These include its Fast & FAb™ Antibody Conjugation Service, through which the company labels microgram to milligram amounts of a customer’s antibody within 48 hours.

Conjugate performance can also be optimized using Innova’s Micro-optimizer™ technology. PerfectSCALE allows conjugates produced using the company’s micro-optimization™ technology to be scaled over many orders of magnitude without the need for extensive process re-development.

A healthy diet, regular physical activity, and maintaining a healthy weight are the three best ways to ensure a reduced risk of cancer, according

to recommendations by the World Cancer Research Fund.
Looking at the evidence on the links between diet and physical activity and cancer, an independent international panel of experts and researchers took five years to sift through 500,000 studies, and to analyse the 7,000 most relevant, to come up with 10 recommendations to best reduce a person's risk of cancer.
And their main finding was that eating a healthy diet, being regularly physically active, and maintaining a healthy weight were the three best strategies.
The panel suggests that a healthy diet is based around fibre-rich plant foods with only modest amounts of alcohol, salt and red meat, and little if any processed meat, reports the Scotsman.
While the evidence suggests that fruits and veggies probably reduce risk of cancer, one needs to eat a wide variety to get as many different nutrients as possible.
The panel recommends that one should not take dietary supplements.
According to estimates, just eating healthily, exercising and maintaining a healthy body weight could prevent almost one-third of the most common cancers, and if followed these recommendations could also help reduce risk of other diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes.
The panel has also recommended avoiding sugary drinks and limiting consumption of foods that are energy dense, i.e., they have a lot of calories for their weight.

Limiting calories is important for cancer prevention because one of the report's main messages is the evidence that being overweight increases risk of cancer is stronger now than ever before.

Thus, it is recommended that people should aim to be as lean as possible without becoming underweight.

And another way to maintain a healthy weight is to make sure that one is physically active, because it helps keeping you trim, and can also reduce your risk of cancer in its own right.

In their recommendations, experts have asked people to be active at a moderate level or more for at least half an hour a day.

However, being active doesn't necessarily mean working out in the gym, but can even include things like brisk walking, cycling and even housework.

Also, the entire workout for the day should not be done in one go, which means that if you are walking ten minutes to the shops, that counts towards your total.

Incorporating activity into your existing daily routine is in fact the best way of sticking to it in the long term.

While many nonprofit organizations and foundations struggle to meet funding goals or cut back on their annual money-raising galas, not all groups are suffering equally. Some, like the American Cancer Society continue to hold their own.

Frank Mascia III, 38, an ACS executive vice president, spoke to Your Business about how the decades-old nonprofit is managing the tough economy. And for those unable to donate money, Mascia offers his advice on how one can donate their time instead.

Q: How are donations to the American Cancer Society holding up?A: Compared to a year ago, donations are pretty much flat, which in this economy is the good news. In New Jersey, a typical year nets about $22 million in donations. Before the recession donations were running 10 percent above expected goals. Even in tough times they understand the necessity for organizations like this one. People understand that every American is affected by cancer.

Q: If the recession prevents people from donating, how else can they contribute?
A: ACS recognizes that times are tough. Another way to stay involved is through volunteering your time. Volunteerism is our strength, it's our life blood. Many full time staff members began as volunteers.

Relay for Life and Making Strides events are always looking for volunteers to sign people up.

Volunteers can also join Road to Recovery. It's a program where volunteers drive cancer patients to and from doctors' appointments and treatments. Although unpaid, ACS does offer fuel reimbursement. It's difficult for patients who require radiation every day.

Other volunteer work includes signing participants up for Cancer Prevention Study 3. CPS 3 is a 20-year study that through questionnaires and repeated blood tests, hopes to gather data on the environmental and genetics links that increase the risk of cancer. It will also examine the links between obesity and cancer risk. We're on the cusp of creating some incredible therapies that are really going to be determined based on your genetics.

CPS 1, started in the early 1960s, helped establish the link between cancer and smoking.

Q: What else can the federal government do to help?]
A: Increase research funding. Right now, the federal government spends about $6 billion in cancer research. While helpful, it is not enough. ACS is also in favor of accessible health care for all. More than a million New Jersey residents don't have health insurance.

Q: How has your organization's fund raising strategies changed to meet the times?

A: Little has changed, though ACS hopes to broaden its outreach to include more New Jersyians, particularly corporate partners. The bulk of the organization's funding comes through two staple events held in cities and venues throughout the state: Relay for Life and Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

Relays for life are overnight events where teams of people raise money for cancer treatment and prevention. At least one team member runs or walks on an outdoor track at all times. Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is a related event where participants collect sponsors and walk about five miles in support of continued research, treatment and early detection. Donations can be as little as $5 or $10 dollars or any amounts above that.