Sunnybrook scientists receive over $8 million to fund cancer research
TORONTO - Scientists from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre have been awarded more than $8.6 million in research grants from the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) through funding from Terry Fox Foundation and Canadian Cancer Society as well as a grant from Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance.
Sunnybrook Research Institute has an exceptionally strong faculty comprised of leaders in their fields," says Michael Julius, vice-president of research at Sunnybrook. "NCIC's investment in this group of scientists, internationally recognized for their contributions spanning the continuum of cancer research, testifies to that strength. Moreover, it's a vital investment in the health of all Canadians."
A program comprised of 10 members of the discipline of Imaging Research, led by Dr. Stuart Foster, senior scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI), has received a Terry Fox Foundation Frontiers Program Project grant entitled Medical Imaging for Cancer through the NCIC for $1.5 million per year for five years, for a total of approximately $7.56 million. Improvements in imaging are needed to provide higher spatial definition of cancer, better functional analysis tumour biology, and even for methods to visualize the presence of particular molecules associated with cancer development and progression of disease. This Imaging Research team seeks to extend the current capabilities of imaging by developing new methods to achieve the above goals, testing these in animal models of cancer, and translating the results to real imaging tools that benefit cancer sufferers. Novel breast and prostate imaging research will be performed with an emphasis on the implementation of strategies to more effectively perform image guided therapeutic procedures.
Dr. Eileen Rakovitch, radiation oncologist at Toronto Sunnybrook Cancer Centre (TSRCC), the comprehensive cancer program at Sunnybrook, and scientist at SRI, has received a Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance (CBCRA) grant of more than $585,000 over a three-year period to study Lobular carcinoma in situ: a population-based analysis. Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is a form of non-invasive breast cancer characterized by the presence of cancer cells only in the milk-producing glands (lobules) of the breast and is not associated with clinical symptoms. LCIS is considered to be a risk factor for invasive breast cancer; yet, in previous studies too few patients went without a complete evaluation of the nature of the disease, making women at highest risk unidentifiable. Rakovitch and her team of investigators will establish the largest population-based cohort study of women diagnosed with LCIS in Ontario by completing a pathologic assessment and accurate ascertainment of important clinical outcomes and the factors associated with the outcomes. They will assess the current treatment of LCIS in Ontario to determine the potential to reduce the rate of unnecessary mastectomies and to increase knowledge for informing treatment selection for individual women with LCIS.
The third grant was awarded to Dr. Robert Nam, urologic oncologist at TSRCC and assciate scientist at SRI, totalling $462,084 over three years to study Cross-Canada Assessment of a New Nomogram Prediction Tool for Prostate Cancer Screening. Many men are being checked for prostate cancer using a blood test, called prostate specific antigen (PSA). Yet, recent data from large studies have shown that PSA is ineffective in diagnosing prostate cancer at the very early stage. Through this grant Nam and his team of investigators have constructed a clinical tool called a nomogram that can precisely determine an individual's risk for prostate cancer by incorporating proven risk factors such as age, race, family history and PSA. This nomogram could be used in conjunction with PSA for the early detection of prostate cancer.
The NCIC funds an entire range of cancer research from investigations into what causes cancer to clinical trials and studies that may help reduce cancer risk and improve the quality of life for people with cancer. The research, funded by the Canadian Cancer Society and The Terry Fox Foundation, takes place across the country and involves all types of cancer. In 2005 the NCIC provided $64 million to support excellent cancer research and related programs across the country.
