Cancer

Cancer

More than a half-million Americans die of cancer every year, making it the second-leading cause of death. But overall cancer rates are declining—including for such common cancers as breast and lung—thanks to earlier detection, interventions and therapies that are at once more powerful and less dangerous than in the past.

Key Initiatives

The Biomarkers Consortium

This groundbreaking initiative expands the science of personalized medicine. The study of biomarkers creates the potential to individualize medical treatment by determining how a drug works in the body and identifying patients likely to respond to targeted medicines and therapies.

Key Initiatives

I-SPY 2: Investigation of Serial Studies to Predict Your Therapeutic Response with Imaging and Molecular Analysis

The I-SPY 2 trial employs a groundbreaking clinical trial model that uses genetic or biological markers (“biomarkers”) from individual patients’ tumors to screen promising new treatments, identifying which treatments are most effective in specific types of patients.

Education & Training

Targeted Cancer Therapies Tutorials

Understanding Targeted Therapies for Cancer is an animated, educational tutorial series developed by the National Cancer Institute for health professionals. The tutorials, available online or in DVD format, provide practitioners with an overview of targeted cancer therapies, the latest FDA-approved targeted therapy drugs, and active clinical trials involving these treatments.

Program

Endotoxin Research Project

The use of bacterial endotoxin in clinical research is essential to the study of the effects of inflammation on the body and as a potent stimulus to enhance immune responses in clinical trials of anti-cancer immunotherapy.

Program

Imaging Database Resources Initiative (IDRI)

Imaging software analysis of digital data collected by X-ray CT, MRI, CT and PET is increasingly central to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. New software methods for interpreting and managing this information must be evaluated in a more standardized manner to ensure their optimum performance.

Program

Biotechnology Resource for Innovation and Development in Genomedicine (BRIDGE)

BRIDGE is a public-private consortium with the goal of developing gene-specific anticancer therapies to advance cancer treatment. The project applies new systems biology strategies to identify genes that are aberrant in cancer cells.

Program

Overcoming Barriers to Early Phase Clinical Trials

This program, through the National Cancer Institute (NCI), provided approximately $6 million to cancer centers to design and implement new approaches to increase patient participation in early-stage clinical trials—particularly in minority and underserved populations.

Program

Human Papilloma Virus Clinical Trial

Human papilloma virus (HPV) is the primary cause of cervical cancer. With more than $6 million in support from the Foundation for NIH, investigators have expanded the scope of an existing National Cancer Institute (NCI) Phase III clinical trial examining a vaccine intended to prevent cervical and other cancers caused by this virus. The expansion makes possible validation, regulatory support and quality-assurance monitoring of the vaccine. The goal is to ensure that the resulting discoveries can be quickly translated into therapies that will prevent the spread of HPV.

Programs in Development

Mutational Analysis of the Melanoma Genome

Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer. In 2009, there were nearly 69,000 estimated new cases of melanoma in the United States.

Endowment

Sallie Rosen Kaplan Fund for Women Scientists in Cancer Research

This fund was made possible by a bequest from Sallie Rosen Kaplan, who had a deep and abiding interest in the education of her family and in making opportunities available for others.

Fund

Dean R. O'Neill Renal Cell Cancer Research Fund

The fund provides support to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at NIH in search of a cure for renal cell cancer, a common form of kidney cancer. The fund specifically supports a postdoctoral fellow, who works in conjunction with the laboratory of Dr. Richard Childs at NHLBI and his staff of doctors to explore treatments such as allogeneic stem cell transplants, vaccine therapy and drug treatments.

Memorial Fund

The Dr. Edward T. Rancic Memorial Fund for Cancer Research

In 2000, Dr. Edward T. Rancic, a kidney cancer patient, enrolled in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI) allogeneic stem cell transplant immunotherapy clinical trial, in the research laboratory of Dr. Richard Childs in Bethesda, Maryland on the campus of the National Institutes of Health.

Memorial Fund

Adam J. Berry Memorial Fund

This fund was established by Michael and Sue Berry in memory of their beloved son, Adam.  Adam came from Australia to work as a research scientist at the National Cancer Institute at NIH. The fund commemorates his life and his enthusiasm for work by making it possible for promising young Australian scientists to travel to the United States and work at NIH. The program is run in cooperation with the Australian Academy of Sciences (AAS).

Past Programs

Understanding Targeted Cancer Therapies Tutorials

This project, made possible by $650,000 in private-sector contributions to the Foundation for NIH, was overseen by the National Cancer Institute.

Past Programs

Action to Cure Kidney Cancer (ACKC) Fellowship

Through the foundation, Action to Cure Kidney Cancer (ACKC) sponsored a postdoctoral candidate’s kidney cancer research in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Childs at The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

Past Programs

Avon-NCI Progress for Patients (PFP)

The Avon-NCI Progress for Patients Awards Program, completed in 2009, made a significant impact on breast cancer research, accelerating the movement of pre-clinical discoveries to application in patients, and fostering collaborative efforts that optimized resources and efficiencies.

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