GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids has received $5.5 million in research grants from Stand Up to Cancer for clinical trials of therapies for lung and bladder cancers.
The research will focus on immunotherapies, which have revolutionized cancer treatment by marshaling the body's natural defenses to seek and destroy tumors, said Peter Jones, Ph.D., the Institute's chief scientific officer and co-leader of the VARI-SU2C Epigenetics Dream Team and co-principal investigator of the bladder cancer trial.
"We have great hope that this approach will help the body's natural immune response recognize and destroy cancer cells," Jones said in a statement, announcing the research funding.
The approach will be tested in two clinical trials, one in bladder cancer and another in advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
The diseases, which kill a combined 173,000 people each year in the U.S., tend to respond more favorably to immunotherapy than other cancer types.
Both trials pair drugs that harness the immune system with epigenetic agents, which are drugs that impact gene regulatory systems.
Preclinical laboratory studies have suggested that manipulating certain epigenetic signals in tumor cells thwart their ability to hide from the immune system, and help the body's natural defenses target and kill the malignant cells.
The immune system is best known as the body's protection against foreign intruders, such as viruses, but it can also recognize cancers, says Dr. Stephen Baylin.
He is the co-director of the Cancer Biology Division and associate director for research programs for Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, Director's Scholar at VARI, co-leader of the VARI-SU2C Epigenetics Dream Team and co-leader of the lung cancer trial.
"It is usually balanced by 'on' and 'off' signals that coordinate when to attack or retreat, but cancers can evade immune attack by commandeering the 'off' signal," Baylin said in a statement. "We believe epigenetic modifications will be able to reverse this and help bolster the body's immune response."
The Van Andel Research Institute-Stand Up To Cancer (VARI-SU2C) Epigenetics Dream Team, fosters collaboration between several of the world's most respected research and clinical organizations in an effort to translate scientific discoveries into new standards of patient care.
The team led by Jones and Baylin includes leading scientists and clinicians with vast experience in translating basic science and promising therapies from the lab to the clinic.
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), a division of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, was established in 2008 by film and media leaders to support a new, collaborative model of cancer research.
source: mlive.com
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