One of first SU2C Dream Teams to pursue additional clinical trials under leadership of Peter A. Jones and Stephen Baylin
The work of one of the Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) inaugural Dream Teams, launched in 2009 to focus on epigenetic therapy in cancer treatment, will continue with the commitment of $7.5 million from Van Andel Research Institute (VARI). Peter A. Jones, PhD, DSc, VARI's research director and chief scientific officer, and Stephen Baylin, MD, deputy director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, will serve as leaders of the Dream Team.
The VARI-SU2C Epigenetics Dream Team will include top scientists from four other leading institutions: Charles Rudin, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York; Jean-Pierre Issa, MD, and Patricia Kropf, MD, Temple University and Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia; Kirsten Grønbæk, MD, DMSc, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen; and Anthony El-Khoueiry, MD, University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Keck Medicine of USC in Los Angeles.
"We are extremely excited to build on the foundations already laid by the Epigenetics Dream Team by moving promising therapies into clinical trials," Jones said. "Epigenetics provides untold opportunities to expand our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying cancer and to develop new treatments that positively affect people's lives. By partnering with Stand Up To Cancer, the American Association for Cancer Research, and prestigious research institutions in the United States and abroad, we have the chance to do truly exceptional research that will have a significant impact on human health."
The original Dream Team, with Baylin as leader and Jones as co-leader, has received nearly $11 million in funding from SU2C, a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
"The SU2C Epigenetics Dream Team has already made significant and important progress in the treatment of cancer, finding that epigenetics can potentially 'prime' cancer cells, making them more receptive to chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy," stated Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, PhD, chairman of the SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee and institute professor at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "This substantial support from Van Andel Research Institute will allow their work to continue and bring hope for patients with lung and other cancers."
As before, the team will focus on epigenetic mechanisms in cells, which help control whether genes are turned on or off without changing the DNA sequence itself. The work has involved clinical trials investigating the response of patients with lung cancer to epigenetic therapy alone, or as a way to sensitize patients to subsequent chemotherapy. VARI's support over three years will allow the team to move forward with more extensive clinical trials in other cancer types. It will also allow the team to test additional epigenetic therapy strategies to improve upon the progress already made.
The VARI-SU2C Epigenetics Dream Team will continue within the SU2C scientific structure, a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional team engaged in accelerated translational research seeking patient benefits with rigorous scientific oversight and peer review provided by SU2C and its Scientific Partner, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
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