Photo by Jon Nalick
Conquering Cancer in the New Millennium
Symposium recounts major milestones in cancer fight and their influence on future research.
by Eva Emerson
USC/Norris cancer scientists and physicians celebrated past accomplishments and looked with optimism to the future at a daylong symposium held at the Cancer Center Report Sciences Campus in November.
The forum, "Conquering Cancer in the New Millennium," commemorated 25 years of cancer research at USC.
USC/Norris Cancer Center Director Peter Jones, Ph.D., recounted some of the important milestones in the cancer center's history.
Researchers at USC/Norris have made important scientific breakthroughs, Jones says, including the discovery of the Jun oncogene and the cloning of another important cancer gene, the retinoblastoma gene.
Another defining moment for early USC/Norris came with the formation of the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program, considered one of the world's leaders in collecting information about cancer incidence.
Jones, holder of the Hoffman Chair in Cancer Research, also praised the building of the Norman Topping Tower at the Norris. "This allowed us to bring together campus epidemiologists, basic scientists, physicians and patients," which has allowed translational research-fast-tracking science from the laboratory to the patient-to flourish.
Jones reminded the audience of the mission of the cancer center: "We exist to hand the promise of molecular biology to patients."
In other presentations, more than a dozen top USC/Norris researchers and clinicians shared results of recent work on topics ranging from new anti-angiogenesis agents to how calcium intake might affect the risk of colon cancer. Many spoke about the current state of cancer research with apparent optimism.
"It will become obvious to everyone in the next 10 years that [the investment in cancer research] is paying off in a big way," says Malcolm Pike, Ph.D., professor and Flora L. Thornton Chair in Preventive Medicine. Pike spoke about a long-anticipated study that he has recently begun-a clinical trial of a hormonal method that may help prevent breast cancer.
"I usually don't get a full day to spend listening to science, especially such solid science," says Richard Klausner, M.D., director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), during a rousing keynote speech. NCI funds many Norris programs and studies.
Noting that the U.S. Congress recently passed the largest increase in the medical research budget ever, Klausner, who lobbies Congress for funding for the NCI, urged scientists to be sure to manage expectations about cancer research by not overselling the outcome.
"Cancer research holds great promise, but we have to be careful about what we promise," he says, reminding scientists that "cancer represents one of the most difficult problems humans have ever tried to figure out."
After outlining the growing amount of information scientists have discovered about the genetic mechanisms underlying cancer, he went on to describe new programs and opportunities the NCI has established to "accelerate the type of progress we're hearing about here today."
Klausner told the USC audiences about the priorities of the National Cancer Institute.
The NCI will put resources into the following key areas: identifying new genes, supporting the development of new diagnostic tools, looking closely at how chromosome rearrangement may affect cancer, collecting information on the range of normal human variation in cancer-related genes, improving animal models of cancer and their relevancy to human cancer, fostering new cancer imaging technologies, collaborating with NASA scientists to develop remote sensing technology to detect tumors and setting up a kind of "chemical genetics" program to rapidly screen potential new cancer drugs.
At a well-attended reception after the symposium, Klausner says he "is impressed with the quality of research [at USC/Norris.] It really seems as though the researchers are happy to be here and enjoy working together."