Science Daily reports: New Platinum-based Anti-tumor Compound Developed

ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2009)

Researchers in the Department of Chemistry at Wake Forest University in collaboration with colleagues at the Wake Forest University Health Sciences Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed a new class of platinum-based anti-tumor drugs that animal studies have shown to be 10 times more effective than current treatments in destroying certain types of lung cancer cells.

The results were published in the December 11 issue of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and highlighted in Science-Business eXchange (SciBX), produced by the publisher of the journal Nature. They suggest a new approach to fighting non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts for more than three-quarters of all lung cancers. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in both men and women. Less than a third of non-small cell lung cancer patients respond to traditional platinum-based therapies, and those who do respond have a median survival of less than a year.

“We are able to slow the growth of this cancer substantially in mice,” said principal investigator Ulrich Bierbach, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Fellow and associate professor of chemistry at Wake Forest. “That is very good news, since this is such a rapidly growing, intractable type of cancer.”

The new compound’s potency derives from its ability to rapidly bind with and disable a tumor cell’s DNA before the cell’s natural repair mechanisms are activated. That repair process causes drug resistance, which reduces the effectiveness of currently used platinum-based drugs.
Bierbach has focused his research efforts since 1992 on finding ways to overcome the resistance problems inherent in platinum-based drugs. He joined the Wake Forest faculty in 1999, and since 2001, has led a research team that included participation by eight graduate students and more than 30 undergraduate students. The recent paper marks the 25th he has published on the topic.

“If this ends up in clinical trials in the next few years, that will fulfill a dream of mine,” Bierbach said.

His research efforts will now be directed toward finding ways to boost the tumor-killing potency of the new compounds while reducing harmful side effects.

The new hybrid compounds are available for licensing from the Wake Forest University Office of Technology Asset Management.

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Science Daily reports: Regular Physical Activity Linked To Better Quality Of Life In Early-stage Lung Cancer Survivors

ScienceDaily (Feb. 9, 2009)

Survivors of early-stage lung cancer who take part in regular physical activity have a better quality of life, according to a study in the February issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, available online now. Patients who are more physically active report better mood, more vigor, and greater physical functioning, the study shows.

"The take-home message is that early-stage lung cancer survivors may benefit, both mentally and physically, from simple moderate exercise," says the paper's lead author Elliot Coups, Ph.D., associate member of Fox Chase Cancer Center's faculty and a participant in the Fox Chase Keystone Program in Cancer Risk and Prevention. "Of course, we're generally not talking marathons here, but smaller, everyday forms of activity like going for a brisk walk several times a week."

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society, and the disease tends to strike older adults who have a history of smoking. Coups and his colleagues studied patients diagnosed with early-stage, non-small cell lung carcinomas. These individuals have a five-year survival rate of nearly 50 percent, compared to three percent for those diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer.

"With early detection and treatment, more people may live longer following surgery for early-stage lung cancer," Coups says. "For these individuals, the act of surviving cancer will follow them the rest of their days, and we are interested in understanding what we can do to promote their overall health and well-being."

Coups and his colleagues at Fox Chase and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center followed 175 people who had completed surgical treatment for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer within the previous six years. On average, patients were about 68 years old at the time of the study and did not currently have cancer. Patients were asked to estimate their level of physical activity six months before the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer, during the six months following surgery and their current activity levels. The survey included standardized questionnaires to assess quality of life in terms of a patient's physical, mental and social well-being.

Approximately one in four participants met physical activity guidelines, which call for about 60 minutes each week of strenuous activity, such as jogging, or 150 minutes of moderate exercise, such as walking briskly. Overall, the level of activity for survey participants was comparable to that of the population at large for their age group, Coups says.

Coups and his colleagues also found that those participants who met the guidelines reported fewer depressive symptoms, greater vitality, and less shortness of breath when compared to their more sedentary counterparts.

"Unfortunately, we see that most lung cancer survivors do not meet guidelines set for physical activity, especially in the six months following surgery," Coups says. "While it is certainly understandable that people might not be able to exercise as vigorously as they had done before lung surgery, our study suggests that healthcare providers ought to discuss the potential benefits of moderate physical activity among early-stage lung cancer survivors as a means of increasing their quality of life."

Funding for this research comes from grants from the National Cancer Institute and the Byrne Foundation.

The New York Times: Political Science

By PETER DIZIKES
Published: February 12, 2009

A smiling Harold Varmus looks out from the cover of his memoir, “The Art and Politics of Science.” Behind him hangs a copy of Jacques-Louis David’s celebrated portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, the French chemist. Varmus is one of our leading scientific figures, a Nobel Prize-winning cancer researcher who advises President Obama, but I’m not sure this is an auspicious image. Lavoi­sier’s own entanglement in politics led to his beheading during the French Revolution. Thankfully, Varmus seems quite adroit in public matters.

He has also written a perceptive book about science and its civic value, arriving as the White House renews its acquaintance with empiricism. Varmus recounts his laboratory career and tenure as director of the National Institutes of Health, then surveys topical issues like stem-cell research. One implication of this book is that far from disconnecting politics and science, we should find better ways of linking them.

Varmus, who is now president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, starts with his life story and his research. Although his mother died of cancer as his career studying it began, he avoids melodrama and simply gets on with a brisk narrative of scientific exploration. In the 1970s, Varmus and colleagues discovered a series of genes, called proto-oncogenes, that can cause cancer. Grasping the mechanics of this has helped us develop drugs for numerous cancers, including leukemia and lung cancer.

Continue the article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/books/review/Dizikes-t.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=lung%20cancer&st=cse

for Joan, The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation

Dance toward a lung cancer cure

By Jennifer Brett
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, February 12, 2009

Not quite a year after Joan Gaeta died in 2007 of lung cancer, her husband and five children threw a party to remember her and raise awareness about the disease that stole her from them.
The lifelong nonsmoker died at 68. Because she and husband Richard never met a dance floor they didn’t love, the family decided “Dancing for Joan” would be a fitting theme for the event. Last year’s inaugural bash raised more than $40,000 for The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation, which sponsored Saint Joseph’s Hospital’s fourth annual Atlanta Lung Cancer Awareness Run and Walk. The foundation also supports a monthly lung cancer support group at the hospital.

The second annual “Dancing for Joan” starts at 7 p.m. Feb. 21 at The Pavilion of East Cobb. CNN’s Nancy Grace emcees and Paul Scheinberg, chief of staff at St. Joseph’s, serves as honorary chairman.

Tickets are $100 each, and the event features dinner, dancing and a cash bar. It’s cocktail attire. Wear your dancing shoes, too.

For information, call 404-435-7376, e-mail gaetafoundation@gmail.com or see http://www.jglcf.org