BJALCF receives $1 million in grants for 2012 Lung Cancer Research

Just two months shy of marking its 7-year anniversary, BJALCF announced today that it has awarded over $1 million in grants for 2012 Lung Cancer Research. BJALCF has made a promise to the Lung Cancer Community to fund only immediate results-oriented projects or programs promising to catalyze progress through early detection, genetic testing, drug discovery and patient-focused outcomes. Just ask any one of the BJALCF Lung Cancer survivors, family members or friends fighting for survival—or any of those who have lost someone they love way too soon to this horrific and most-underfunded #1 Cancer Killer, why results-oriented projects are of the essence? BJALCF's ultimate goal is to turn Lung Cancer into a survivable, manageable chronic disease.

After rigorous review of 26 grant requests by the BJALCF Scientific Advisory Board, much-needed funding has been distributed worldwide to the brightest, most dedicated, and determined researchers in the urgent quest to extend lives. They are as follows:

• Guoan Chen, PhD, assistant research professor in Thoracic Oncology at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan for the "Discovery and Validation of Serum Micro-RNAs for Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Prognosis" with the primary objective to detect Lung Cancer earlier and significantly reduce the mortality of NSCLC.
• Rolf Craven, PhD, associate professor, Department of Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology at Markey Cancer Center College of Medicine in Lexington, Kentucky for "S2R (Pgrmc1): sigma-2 receptor as a therapeutic target in Lung Cancer" with the primary objective to develop new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies for erlotinib-resistant Lung Cancer.
• Carlo Maley, PhD, associate professor and director of the Center for Evolution and Cancer at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Natalie Lui, MD, a surgery resident in the Thoracic Oncology Program in the Department of Surgery at UCSF, for "Within Tumor Genetic Diversity in Lung Cancer" with the primary objective to determine whether genetic diversity at treatment predicts survival in patients with adenocarcinoma, ultimately leading to a greater understanding of Lung Cancer's response to therapy and a new method for predicting survival.
• Jiantao Pu, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine for "Diagnosis-by-Search: Enabling Early Detection & Accurate Diagnosis of Lung Cancer" with the primary objective to develop a novel computer-aided diagnosis paradigm leading to a significant reduction of Lung Cancer mortality.

Young Investigator Awards via Jill's Legacy™:

• James Kim, MD, PhD, assistant professor at the Harmon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research, Dallas, TX for the "Role of Hedgehog pathway activity in human Lung Cancer with mutant K-ras" with the primary objective to determine the relationship between mutant K-ras and the Hh pathway and identify other Hh-dependent proteins that may be important for tumor growth leading to new protein targets for potential therapeutic regimens for treatment for K-ras mutant cancers.
• Naveen Kommajosyula, PhD, research fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts for "PARP Inhibition in NSCLC" with the primary objective to determine the basis of PARP inhibitor sensitivity; and, through data obtained, identify NSCLC appropriate for PARP inhibitors in clinical trials, characterize these mutations and discover Lung Cancers harboring deleterious ATM mutations sensitive to PARP inhibitors.

Ongoing Funding Extensions:

• Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI)– ALCMI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with offices in California and Connecticut and member institutions in the U.S. and Europe, dedicated to catalyzing and accelerating the discovery, development and delivery of new and more effective treatment options for Lung Cancer patients. In response to widely-acknowledged and systematic barriers to progress against Lung Cancer, ALCMI developed and launched, as its inaugural research program, a targeted, multi-institutional biorepository. The purpose of this project is to facilitate application of the known biomarkers to patients presenting today, and to establish such a collection of biospecimens that will be essential for discovering and validating new biomarkers for improved diagnostics, treatments and cancer patient outcomes.
• David R. Gandara, MD, professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Associate Director for Clinical Research, and Director, Thoracic Oncology Program at UC Davis Cancer Center, California for the "Personalizing Therapy of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer through a novel Co-Clinical Trial Concept: A trans-Disciplinary Pilot Project" with the primary objective to use mouse tumor xenografts as surrogates for treatment outcomes in individual patients. As seen on PBS NEWSHOUR (link to: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june12/cancer_01-13.html)
• Rafael Rosell, MD, PhD, head of the Medical Oncology Service and Scientific Director for Oncology at the Catalan Institute of Oncology, Hospital Germans i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain for continued support for his work with patients included in the EURTAC trial which is the only study comparing the outcome to EGFR TKIs versus chemotherapy and the specific examination of the EGFR T790M acquired resistance mutation with the primary objective to discover novel treatment combinations for Lung Cancer patients and to extend lives.
• Giorgio Scagliotti, MD, PhD, full professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Turino, Italy–Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences for continued support for the "Phase III Multicenter Randomized Trial Comparing Adjuvant Pharmacogenomic-Driven Chemotherapy versus Standard Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Completely Resected Stage II-IIIA Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer conducted in 25 sites in Italy, Germany and Poland."

Board Member Bruce Gellman explains, "We're improving the standard of care by bringing new and improved treatment options to Lung Cancer patients in need. The future of cancer care lies in the concept of 'personalized medicine' – a model that focuses on the individual, not just the disease. It will use molecular signatures to match the right patients to the right drugs." Bonnie J. Addario, Founder and 7-year Lung Cancer survivor, believes in making that happen sooner rather than later. BJALCF has grown to fund progress that brings the future right into the present day. "ANYONE CAN GET LUNG CANCER," says Addario, "It can come to your house and we're choosing to fund and accelerate research that can either keep it out or kick it out. All people, all of us, with any cancer or disease like Breast Cancer and AIDS should be treated in the very best way that is available. Today, if you present with Breast Cancer, you are given molecular testing for your biomarkers and treated based on your very own specific molecular profile. It works. And we've got it for Lung Cancer. I remind our researchers that when they're looking through that microscope, they're not looking at a tumor, they're looking at a person, and that person wants to live. Our goal is to raise the bar for the existing standard of Lung Cancer care, ensure that everyone gets genetic testing and available treatment, and fund the kinds of research that bring the survival rate of Lung Cancer up into the 90th percentile, just like Breast Cancer and the AIDS cocktails. We can do this."