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Alberta Cancer Foundation Research Profiles
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1 Who are we?
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2 We are the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
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The Alberta Cancer Foundation increases the
chance of survival for more than 15,600 Albertans
diagnosed with cancer each year and lowers the risk
that others will develop cancer by raising funds for
research, prevention and care at the Cross Cancer
Institute, Tom Baker Cancer Centre and Alberta’s
15 other cancer centres.
The Alberta Cancer Foundation believes a cancer-free future is possible—in our lifetimes. To make it possible, the Alberta Cancer Foundation is one of Alberta’s top investors in cancer research, building a critical mass of talent to ensure the province leads in cancer prevention and early detection and that treatment in Alberta’s cancer centres is supported by world-class research.
The stakes are high.
> More than 6,000 Alberta families annually suffer the loss of a loved one to cancer
> Nearly one in two Albertans is expected to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes
> Nearly one in four Albertans is expected to die of cancer
> 45,000 Albertans are already being treated for cancer in the province and more than 15,000 new patients are added each year.
But we are progressing. Since the Alberta Cancer Foundation was established in 1984, the cancer mortality rate in our province has dropped 10.6 per cent. This means 630 Albertans each year are now surviving cancers that would have killed them had they been diagnosed 25 years ago.
This document introduces you to a few of the researchers the Alberta Cancer Foundation is investing in to keep momentum towards our cancer-free future. These top minds are charged with asking the right questions, finding answers and developing the innovations needed to better prevent and treat cancer in Alberta and around the world.
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4 How can we reduce cancer incidence?
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Tomorrow Project participant Cheryl Yaremchuk
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Large cohort studies > Dr. Paula Robson
What is the connection between lifestyle and cancer?With funding from the Alberta Cancer Foundation, the Tomorrow Project is a long-term research program studying the connection between lifestyle and cancer. The goal of the Tomorrow Project is to study 50,000 Albertans who have never been diagnosed with cancer to learn why some people remain healthy and some develop cancer. The participants in the study are men and women between the ages of 35 and 69 who are willing to participate until they are 85 years old. They also must be willing to give information about their health, lifestyle, and any episodes of illness during the study period. Participants will be from all areas of Alberta and from a variety of backgrounds.
Researchers involved in the Tomorrow Project plan to study the participants’ “environment,” which includes their diet, physical activity level, sun exposure, use of tobacco and alcohol, exposure to chemicals in the air, water, and soil, types of work performed, places of residence, and proximity to industrial sites. Evidence also suggests that some people have alterations in their genes that might make them more or less at risk to the cancer-causing effects of certain environmental exposures.
At various points during the study, participants will be asked to provide biological samples, such as blood or urine, as well as updated information about their health. Analyzing the biological samples will provide researchers with greater insight into genetic factors and provide information about other specific exposures that may not be easily obtained with questionnaires.
The Tomorrow Project began in 1999. By 2007, participant recruitment had increased to almost 30,000 adults. Upon enrolment, participants completed self-administered questionnaires about their general health and lifestyle, diet, and physical activity level. In 2008, the Tomorrow Project became the basis for a national cohort study under the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC), which will enroll 300,000 participants.
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80 year old woman staying active in the pool
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Physical activity research > Dr. Christine Friedenreich
What is the connection between physical activity and cancer risk?In addition to her involvement as co–principal investigator for the Alberta Physical Activity and Breast Cancer Prevention (ALPHA) Trial, Dr. Friedenreich is conducting studies of physical activity and its association with the risk of endometrial cancer and with prostate and breast cancer survival.
An important component of Dr. Friedenreich’s research program is to develop new methods for measuring physical activity. She and her research team have created two questionnaires: the first was designed to measure lifetime physical activity and the second to measure activity in the past year. The “Lifetime Total Physical Activity Questionnaire” has been used to collect data from more than 6,000 men and women who have participated in her population-based, case-control studies of lifetime physical activity and the risk of breast, prostate, and endometrial cancers. The second questionnaire, the “Past Year Total Physical Activity Questionnaire,” has been used in the Tomorrow Project, a long-term study of cancer risk in Alberta, and in several other studies conducted worldwide. For the breast cancer study, data gathered with the questionnaire showed without a doubt that active post-menopausal women have a 30 per cent lower risk of breast cancer when compared to inactive women. In addition, the results showed that women who became active after menopause, even if they were inactive before menopause, reduced their breast cancer risk by 40 per cent.
“We’ve known for a long time that physical activity is important in reducing several chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, hypertension, and mental illness. Now a number of cancers are being added to that list,” says Dr. Friedenreich. “There are very few changes that people can make to reduce their own cancer risk, but if they know that being physically active can make a difference, that is a positive and empowering message for many people.”
Dr. Friedenreich is also involved in several research studies of exercise and its benefits for patients who already have cancer. These studies are focusing on how exercise improves cancer patients’ ability to cope with their diagnosis, rehabilitation, quality of life, and survival after treatment.
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Dr. Kerry Courneya, University of Alberta Inset, Dr. Christine Friedenreich, Alberta Health Services, University of Calgary
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The ALPHA Trial > Dr. Christine Friedenreich > Dr. Kerry Courneya
Can increased physical activity decrease breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women?Breast cancer affects thousands of women in Canada every year. Research has shown that there is a link between increased physical activity and a decreased risk of breast cancer. This association is true for older women as well as for those who started activity late in life. But researchers do not yet understand how physical activity influences breast cancer risk, and this is why the Alberta Physical Activity and Breast Cancer Prevention (or ALPHA) Trial was started.
The goal of the ALPHA Trial is to study how one year of aerobic exercise—as compared to a non-active lifestyle—affects biologic mechanisms that researchers believe are involved in the link between a woman’s physical activity level and her risk of developing breast cancer.
The principal investigators for the ALPHA Trial are Dr. Christine Friedenreich and Dr. Kerry Courneya. The study includes women between the ages of 50 and 74 who do not have breast cancer and did not exercise at the time they joined the study.
When 67-year-old Jolana Kutay read an article in the newspaper about the ALPHA Trial, she knew she wanted to be a part of it. Her niece had breast cancer, and Ms. Kutay saw this as her opportunity to play a part in breast cancer research.
“You never know,” says Ms. Kutay. “It happened to someone in my family, so it could happen to me—I could develop breast cancer. I wanted to help in some way with breast cancer research, so that they would be closer to finding a cure. This was my way of helping with that research.”
Ms. Kutay says her experience with the ALPHA Trial has motivated her to be more physically active in her daily life. Because of the ALPHA Trial, she began exercising three days per week at a fitness facility and two days per week on her own.
“I’ve really enjoyed the experience,” says Ms. Kutay. “I am very interested in hearing the results of the study.”
The ALPHA Trial is one of the first of its kind in the world, and the results that Ms. Kutay and others await will give all women valuable information about how they can decrease their own risk for breast cancer.
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Dr. Nigel Brockton, Alberta Health Services, University of Calgary
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Molecular epidemiology > Dr. Nigel Brockton
Does inflammation play a part in the cause and progression of cancer?Dr. Nigel Brockton is a research scientist who specializes in the field of molecular epidemiology. He believes there is an inflammatory component to every chronic disease, including cancer.
Dr. Brockton has received funding to study breast cancer metastasis to the bone. According to Dr. Brockton, up to 40 per cent of women with breast cancer already have cells from their breast tumours in their bone marrow, but only a small number of those patients actually develop tumours (metastases) in the bone. Dr. Brockton believes this could be related to any number of factors, including vitamin D status and inflammatory factors that encourage the cancer to progress.
“We are recruiting about 200 women to participate in each of the next three years,” says Dr. Brockton. “We hope to look at this disease from many aspects—the tissue, the primary tumour, what is circulating in the blood—to understand why breast cancer spreads to the bone in some patients but not in others.”
In keeping with his research about inflammation, Dr. Brockton is also studying the anti-inflammatory role of vitamin D. There is increasing evidence that higher vitamin D levels are associated with a reduced incidence of breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers. However, this link has not been fully studied in terms of cancer progression.
In the future, Dr. Brockton would also like to study the role of inflammation in the spread of colorectal cancer to the liver.
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Dr. S. Elizabeth McGregor, Alberta Health Services Inset, Dr. Huiming Yang, Alberta Health Services
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Finding ways to boost screening rates > Dr. S. Elizabeth McGregor > Dr. Huiming Yang
Why aren’t more Albertans being screened for colorectal cancer?Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death and the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in Alberta. Many of these deaths and much of the suffering could be prevented if everyone older than 50 would undergo routine colorectal cancer screening. A 2004 provincial survey of 1,476 Albertans found that 63 per cent of adults aged 50 to 74 underestimated their lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer and that only 20 per cent had discussed colorectal cancer with their doctor in the past five years. Preliminary results from a similar survey yet to be released show some progress in this area.
Alberta is in the process of implementing one of the first provincial screening programs for colorectal cancer in Canada.
“Regular screening for colorectal cancer has been shown to reduce deaths,” says Dr. Huiming Yang. “Our screening program focuses on healthy people aged 50 to 74 who show no symptoms or signs of the condition. The five-year survival rate for colorectal cancer is about 90 per cent if it is detected early, but that rate decreases to 10 per cent or less if the cancer is detected in its advanced stages.”
Dr. S. Elizabeth McGregor’s research focuses on early detection and screening as a means of cancer control. Evidence suggests that doctor recommendations and patient education increase colorectal cancer screening rates among adults who are at average risk of developing the disease. Dr. McGregor and her team are studying how educational resources can be used to improve knowledge, attitudes, decision-making, and practices when it comes to cancer screening. Her current work focuses on identifying the barriers to population-based screening for colorectal cancer and on developing strategies that would increase adherence to screening recommendations.
Dr. Yang and Dr. McGregor are both focused on a common goal: to reduce the incidence of and death rate from colorectal cancer. They know that patient education and organized screening programs for colorectal cancer can make a big difference in the health of all Albertans.
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16 How can we reduce cancer deaths?
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Dr. Bassam Abdulkarim, Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
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Tomotherapy > Dr. Bassam Abdulkarim
How can we make radiation therapy safer and less toxic to patients?Dr. Bassam Abdulkarim and his team of researchers are studying a new technology known as tomotherapy, which may make radiation therapy a safer and more effective treatment option for the next generation of cancer patients.
Radiation therapy is a mainstay of treatment for cancers of all kinds, but it can cause excessive damage to healthy tissues located along the track that the radiation beam travels to reach the tumour and around the tumour itself. Tomotherapy uses the same principles as computed tomography (CT) to deliver radiation therapy precisely to the diseased area, while minimizing the radiation dose to healthy tissue. CT or magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is first used to create a 3-D map of the tumour and the body structures around it. This map shows exactly where the radiation should be delivered. During tomotherapy, the radiation source travels around the patient, moving 360 degrees, as it delivers radiation in small bursts, all of which are directed only at the tumour. All shapes and sizes of tumour can be treated, and multiple metastases can be treated in a single session.
The Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton is home to one of only three prototype tomotherapy units in Canada. Dr. Abdulkarim is co-leader of a three-year project to test the effectiveness of tomotherapy in breast cancer patients who have had a lumpectomy (a partial mastectomy).
In parallel with this clinical trial, Dr. Abdulkarim’s team is focusing on the development of new biomarkers that can predict radiation-induced skin fibrosis on the basis of which cells are circulating in the blood. In particular, they are hoping to see a significant reduction in the incidence of skin fibrosis—a common side effect of radiation in which breast tissue becomes more fibrous, less stretchy, and tenderer to the touch. They are interested in determining whether tomotherapy reduces radiation damage to the heart. Dr. Abdulkarim is also leading a second study to investigate tomotherapy as a treatment for glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer.
“What we learn here,” says Dr. Abdulkarim, “could be used in the future to tailor treatment on the basis of predictive biomarkers for radiation toxicities, so those patients who are most prone to radiation toxicity could receive lower doses or be offered other treatment options.”
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Dr. Gino Fallone, Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
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Image-guided adaptive radiotherapy (IGAR) > Dr. Gino Fallone
How can radiation therapy be directed only at a tumour?Dr. Gino Fallone and his team are studying the development of image-guided adaptive radiotherapy (IGAR) and other advances in diagnostic imaging.
Normally, patients undergo diagnostic imaging, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomographic (CT or CAT) scanning, or positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, before undergoing radiation therapy. These imaging tests help doctors determine where to direct the radiation. The imaging tests are usually repeated after treatment to determine if the treatment is working.
During radiotherapy, a therapeutic dose of radiation must be delivered to the tumour, while sparing normal tissues as much as possible. Planning must accommodate breathing, tumour shrinkage, and small variations in the patient’s position from session to session. Doctors must also consider that the CT scanning or MRI performed before radiation therapy may not have been sensitive enough to detect all of the tumour, especially for aggressive tumours, and so an extra margin around the tumour must be included in the radiation field.
The IGAR program involves using a combination of CT scanning, MRI, and PET imaging to determine the extent of a patient’s cancer as accurately as possible. Radiation therapy is then designed specifically for that patient, using the helical tomotherapy unit to deliver a “sculpted” dose of radiation. This means that the tumour receives the maximum exposure to radiation, but the healthy tissue is spared—even healthy tissue located very close to the tumour.
Many tumours, such as those in the lung or prostate, actually move during the treatment session, making it difficult to appropriately deliver the correct dose of radiation. To overcome this problem, Dr. Fallone and his team are the first in the world to develop a prototype of a radiation therapy–MRI hybrid system that they call advanced real-time adaptive radiotherapy. With this technique, MRI is used to track the tumour during the radiation therapy session, in real-time, to guide and to adjust the radiation dose to the tumour. Ultimately, advanced real-time adaptive radiotherapy will mean that treatment is adjusted according to the properties of the tumour.
Another benefit of advanced real-time adaptive radiotherapy is that patients with certain types of tumours that are not treatable by radiation now (liver, stomach, and pancreatic cancers) could add radiation therapy as a treatment option.
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Dr. Russell Greiner, University of Alberta
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Modeling tumours through machine learning > Dr. Russell Greiner
Can computing science predict how a tumour will grow?Dr. Russell Greiner’s research interest is in computer algorithms that learn from experience to improve performance. Several of his group’s current projects have the potential to affect cancer treatment.
One of the current challenges in radiation therapy of brain cancers is that the best means of visualizing the extent of cancer, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), only detects the bulk of the tumour and not the cells that have spread beyond it. This cell spreading usually occurs with brain cancers and makes them particularly difficult to treat. Radiation therapy is usually delivered to a wide margin around the tumour, which will affect healthy tissue and could very well miss the tumour cells. The Brain Tumour Analysis Project (BTAP), a collaboration among researchers at the Cross Cancer Institute, the Department of Computing Science and Alberta Ingenuity, is using machine learning to develop methods of predicting how a tumour may grow. By looking at the tumour and knowing how it may grow, doctors can be more precise about where to direct the radiation therapy.
Dr. Greiner’s research group is also involved in the PolyomX project, which is a study to determine patient-specific treatment for cancer. Since 1975, Alberta has maintained a unique, province-wide cancer registry of tissue samples and medical information from Alberta cancer patients. Computer analysis of these samples combined with what Cross Cancer Institute researchers already know about the molecular nature of cancer will allow Dr. Greiner and his team to draw conclusions about cancer risk and outcomes as well as the complications that can occur because of cancer treatment.
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Cellular imaging > Dr. Mike Hendzel
Is the “packaging” of DNA within cells related to how those cells respond to radiation therapy?When DNA was first discovered, scientists thought the information it encoded was entirely contained within its sequence of nucleotides. But they now know that this is not so. Another form of information, called epigenetic information, is transmitted by DNA through the generations without being encoded in the sequence. Epigenetic changes accompany genetic changes in the development of cancer and affect how genes are expressed (produce the cell components they encode).
Dr. Michael Hendzel’s research group studies the “packaging” of DNA within living cells and relates that to how cells respond to radiation therapy. He and his researchers are able to study single living cells using high-magnification microscopes with very sensitive digital cameras that capture images of the DNA inside of cells. The parts of the cells they wish to study are tagged with a fluorescent molecule that shows up under the microscope. Their results suggest that the more tightly packaged the DNA, the more sensitive the cell seems to be to radiation therapy.
The best studied mechanism for transmitting epigenetic changes is methylation, a reversible chemical modification to the control region of genes. In cancer, changes in the methylation pattern cause oncogenes (genes that produce the enzymes that drive the cell cycle) to be turned on and tumour suppressor genes (the DNA repair genes) to be turned off. However, a tumour whose DNA repair genes are not being normally expressed also may be unable to repair its DNA after damage caused by radiation, possibly making it more responsive to radiation therapy. Another aspect of Dr. Hendzel’s group’s work involves using live cell imaging to observe the choreography of enzymes involved in repair of DNA damage, particularly the one responsible for marking the break at the beginning of the DNA repair process.
Because epigenetic changes leave the sequence of the genes themselves unaffected, they are an attractive target for therapy: reversing the change should also reverse that part of the cancer process. Drugs that reverse epigenetic changes have already been developed and are being used to treat some cancers. Dr. Hendzel’s group is currently involved in the development and testing of several more of these drugs.
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Dr. Mike Hendzel, Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
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Dr. Steve Robbins, Alberta Health Services, University of Calgary
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Genomics and proteomics > Dr. Steve Robbins
How do the signaling pathways within cells affect their division and uncontrolled growth?Cancer is a disease of disordered, uncontrolled growth, in which cells divide out of control and invade other tissues. The cancer cells can invade tissue near where the tumour began, or they can spread (metastasize) to tissue located farther away.
Dr. Steve Robbins and his research group are studying how growth signals from around a cell are relayed to the nucleus of the cell via a multi-step signaling pathway. Many of the proteins involved in the signaling pathway are produced by “proto-oncogenes.” These proto-oncogenes are genes that, when mutated, can help lead to the development of cancer. One type of proto-oncogene is called Src, a gene that encodes an enzyme to chemically modify other enzymes and alter their behaviour. When Src is mutated so that its activity becomes independent of signals from outside the cell or from upstream in the pathway, it becomes responsible for driving the cell through repeated, uncontrolled cell divisions. The main focus of Dr. Robbins’ research is to study Src and its neighbours upstream and downstream in the signaling pathway to determine how they influence the division and maturation of cells in the blood.
Dr. Robbins’ research team is also studying the organization of the parts of signaling pathways within cells to determine what roles those pathways play in the regulation of signaling. Their research has established that Src protein kinases and other signaling proteins are found in caveolae, which are protein-coated pits found on the plasma membranes of many mature cells. These caveolae are involved in multiple cells processes, including cell signaling, and Dr. Robbins and his team are trying to determine why.
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Dr. Gregory Cairncross, University of Calgary
Inset, patient Michael Permak with Dr. Peter Forsyth, Alberta Health Services, University of Calgary
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Neuro-oncology > Dr. Gregory Cairncross > Dr. Peter Forsyth
How do we stop aggressive brain tumours?
Dr. Gregory Cairncross is an international expert on oligodendroglioma, a brain tumour once considered untreatable that occurs primarily in young adults. Through their research, Dr. Cairncross and his team discovered that if certain portions of chromosomes 1 and 19 were abnormal, then oligodendroglioma patients had a better response to treatment. In a study of chemotherapy plus radiation therapy in patients with anaplastic oligodendroglioma, an aggressive form of the tumour, patients who had chemotherapy plus radiation therapy had a longer interval before the disease recurred compared to those who underwent only radiation therapy. Adding chemotherapy to their treatment increased the length of time before the disease recurred and extended their lives.
For Michael Permak, a 44-year-old oligodendroglioma patient, research about this type of cancer by Dr. Cairncross and Dr. Peter Forsyth could not have been timelier. Mr. Permak was diagnosed in March 1993, when magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that he had a low-grade glioma. Because it was likely to grow slowly, a program of careful tumour surveillance was recommended, although treatment would be needed eventually. The prognosis was grim. He was told he would most certainly die of this cancer. Dr. Forsyth advised him that his best course of treatment was to leave the tumour alone. “After hearing that, I basically shut down. I felt that if I had only a couple of years to live, I needed to take time off work and spend time with my two young children,” says Mr. Permak. “My wife was obviously devastated by all of this. And then I had a pivotal moment. I realized that I either needed to act like I was going to die or act like I was going to live. I decided to act like I was going to live. It was two to three years after that when my wife and I had our third child.”
In 2004 Mr. Permak had a seizure and an MRI showed that the tumour had become more aggressive. One-third of the tumour was surgically removed, two-thirds being left in order to spare his speech and motor skills. Biopsy results showed that he had stage 3 oligodendroglioma. Mr. Permak completed his chemotherapy and radiation therapy in June 2005, and returned to work in September. He continues to do well. “When I received my diagnosis in 1993, there was no treatment. But by 2004, these researchers had found a way to treat my brain tumour. None of this could have happened without research. Eleven years from the time of my diagnosis to the time I began treatment is a really short timeframe. The message I take away from this is that you should never give up hope. Researchers here and around the world are finding ways to treat all types of cancer. You should never give up hope.”
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Dr. John Mackey, Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
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Profiling gene expression> Dr. John Mackey
Why do many women with early-stage breast cancer experience a recurrence after treatment?Dr. John R. Mackey’s research group is studying treatment resistance in breast cancer patients. They want to determine why cancers in some patients do not respond to treatment, or, having initially responded, stop responding over time. Furthermore, they want to know why many women with early-stage breast cancer will experience a recurrence.
He and his team have identified molecular pathways that circumvent the ability of standard cancer drugs to kill breast cancer cells. With this new understanding, it should be possible to predict which patients are likely to benefit from therapy. By understanding the mechanism of resistance, it may be possible to develop methods to counteract it.
“There are a lot of new drugs out there targeting new pathways, but we just don’t know what to shoot for,” says Dr. Mackey, chair of the Northern Alberta Breast Cancer Program. “We want to demonstrate that specific drugs will inhibit the key resistance pathways to create individualized treatment for these women.”
To do that, Dr. Mackey and his team are comparing the molecular profile of women and their cancers that have recurred after treatment to the profiles of women who remain cancer-free after treatment. Through gene expression profiling, they are gaining an understanding of why some women remain free of disease after treatment and finding out how cancers change over time, making them resistant to treatment.
What sets Dr. Mackey’s research apart in this field is his ability to access the PolyomX and Alberta Research Tumour Banks, which contain tumour tissue, blood, and clinical data from more than 3,500 women with breast cancer. Dr. Mackey has specifically chosen tissue samples from pairs of otherwise clinically identical women, one of whom has had a recurrence of her disease and one of whom remains disease free. He then enters the biological data into computer programs that show patterns and combinations that may help in identifying pathways, gene and protein interactions, and potential drug targets.
Dr. Mackey is also executive director of the Cancer International Research Group. This Edmonton- and Paris-based non-profit company employs nearly 100 people who plan and oversee multiple international clinical trials conducted in more than 2,000 cancer centres worldwide. Trials are currently being conducted to evaluate new molecular-targeted therapies for breast, gastric, and ovarian cancers.
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Metabolomics and pharmacogenomics > Dr. Mike Sawyer
Why do patients respond differently to anti-cancer drugs?Dr. Michael Sawyer’s main focus of research is determining why cancer patients vary in their response to anti-cancer drugs. In collaboration with Dr. Carol Cass, Dr. Sawyer’s group studies how cancer cells and healthy cells metabolize anti-cancer drugs called antimetabolite and nucleotide analogue drugs. These drugs directly interfere with a cell’s ability to synthesize DNA during cell division. Dr. Sawyer is studying these drugs to determine if there is a way to enhance their effect on cancer cells while reducing their ill effects on normal cells.
The main reason why patients have different responses to drugs is usually genetic: people have slightly different varieties of common metabolic enzymes, so the efficiency with which their bodies absorb, use, and excrete the drugs can vary. As a result, some people are able to tolerate full doses of a drug while others experience ill-effects that limit the dose they can tolerate. For patients who experience ill-effects, a lower dose means less effective treatment.
Dr. Sawyer has developed models in test tubes of kidney, liver, and nerve cells that mimic how the kidneys, liver, and nerves behave in patients. In the kidney model, Dr. Sawyer and his team have found that many of the commonly used chemotherapy drugs (called antimetabolites) are removed from urine by kidney cells and placed back into the blood stream. In other words, the kidney cells reabsorb these drugs. Dr. Sawyer and colleagues are trying to understand how reabsorption of these drugs by the kidney cells can lead to kidney damage. It is hoped that this research will lead to new methods of dosing these drugs to prevent chemotherapy-induced kidney damage.
Dr. Sawyer and his team are also studying the causes of both forms of chemotherapy-induced nerve damage: the central form known as “chemobrain” and the peripheral form that causes patients to experience numbness and tingling in their hands and feet. Dr. Sawyer’s team has developed models of both forms of toxicity and are trying to determine how chemotherapy causes this debilitating damage.
Dr. Sawyer is also collaborating with Dr. Vickie Baracos to study the effects of nutritional supplements on the effectiveness and toxicity of chemotherapy. They have found that when the amino acid glutamine is administered in large doses, it protects against the side effects of chemotherapy but does not alter the effectiveness of the treatment. He and Dr. Baracos have also studied the effects of lean body mass and found that differences in lean body mass between men and women may be connected to differences in side effects with respect to the chemotherapy drug 5-fluoruracil.
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Dr. Mike Sawyer, Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
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Dr. Tony Magliocco, Alberta Health Services
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Tumour profiling > Dr. Tony Magliocco > Dr. Corinne Doll
How do we personalize treatments?In a multidisciplinary research collaboration, Dr. Tony Magliocco, Dr. Corinne Doll, and Dr. Susan Lees-Miller are trying to determine why some patients respond to their cancer treatment and others do not. The work that Dr. Magliocco’s laboratory is doing in specialized testing is supporting an important translational research study led by his colleague, Dr. Doll, aimed at improving the outcome of women who have developed locally advanced cervical cancer. In the treatment of cervical cancer and other squamous cell malignancies, up to 40 per cent of patients fail to respond to radiation therapy. It is likely that many of these tumours are naturally resistant to radiation treatment. Currently, there are no molecular profiling tests that can be performed before patients begin treatment, so it is difficult to determine the best treatment option. But recent advances in molecular biology could make it possible for an analysis of tumour biology before a treatment option is selected. This research can be translated to other tumour sites, including the head and neck, anus, and lungs. In fact, the results and principles obtained from this project will be useful not only in the treatment of cervical cancer patients but in the treatment of patients with other types of cancers currently treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Other aims of Dr. Magliocco’s research are to identify genetic changes in breast cancer and ovarian cancer that can be used as markers to identify the subtype of cancer and to predict how certain cancers will respond to treatment. In his breast cancer research, he is particularly interested in the oncogene Src and how its activation might be involved in driving breast cancer to spread (or metastasize). For this research, Dr. Magliocco’s laboratory has created a special test-tube model of bone metastases. Using this model, Dr. Magliocco can isolate bone stromal cells to determine how they might attract and support the growth of breast cancer cells. If this process can be better understood, it could lead to the development of new therapies to protect the bone from breast cancer metastasis.
Dr. Magliocco has recently been awarded a grant to study why some women with breast cancer develop bone metastasis. In collaboration with Dr. Christine Friedenreich, Dr. Magliocco will study 600 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer to see if new tests can be developed to examine either the cancer or the blood to predict in advance whose breast cancer may spread to the bone. This information could lead to new treatments that might protect the bone from metastatic breast cancer. Dr. Magliocco has also been awarded a grant to explore the possibilities of applying a new technology called proteomics to determine which women with breast cancer might be at very high risk of metastasis. This information is important for identifying those women who might benefit from potentially toxic chemotherapy.
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Louise Lampard with Dr. Corrine Doll, Alberta Health Services
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Louise Lampard, 37, directly benefitted from the tumour profiling
research collaboration. When she was given a diagnosis of cervical
cancer in September 2005, the news was devastating to her.
“It was a whirlwind of emotions,” says Ms. Lampard. “I don’t think I got angry. I just could not believe it was happening to me. I just kept thinking, ‘When am I going to die? Tell me the date I am going to die.’” But Dr. Doll had a positive attitude about Ms. Lampard’s prognosis. “She said the thought of my dying hadn’t even entered her head. She assured me that me that I was going to be healthy again. It was after that meeting with Dr. Doll that my whole attitude changed,” says Ms. Lampard.
After undergoing six sessions of chemotherapy, six weeks of daily radiation therapy, and 48 hours of internal radiation, Ms. Lampard was declared cancer free in January 2006.
“I believe in mind over matter as much as I believe in the treatment I received. I can’t speak highly enough of the Tom Baker Cancer Centre and the research that is going on there. These are incredible people,” says Ms. Lampard. “But the bottom line, I think, is that you’ve got to help yourself, as well. You can get through these sorts of things if you play a part in your own fight.”
After Louise Lampard was declared cancer free, she decided to give back to the Tom Baker Cancer Centre by raising money for the Alberta Cancer Foundation, which funds Dr. Doll’s research program in cervical cancer. She raised just over $2,000 by climbing the stairs of the Calgary Tower.
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Studying DNA repair > Dr. Susan Lees-Miller
How do cells respond to ionizing radiation?Ionizing radiation is a type of radiation that occurs all around us: it is present in the atmosphere (as cosmic radiation) and is used in X-rays. Ionizing radiation is known both as a cause of some cancers and as one of the most established means of treatment, in the form of radiation therapy.
Dr. Susan Lees-Miller’s research group studies how ionizing radiation damages cells, and why some cells are more susceptible to such damage than others. By understanding ionizing radiation damage, radiation therapy might be better directed to kill tumour cells.
One particular area of study involves how cells repair breaks in their DNA. Such DNA breaks can arise from ionizing radiation, from drugs that mimic its effect, or even from normal cell processes associated with the immune system. The cells’ DNA repair systems are complex and involve the coordinated action of hundreds of different protein parts that detect the damage, signal the damage to the rest of the cell, and then repair it. Cells that are unable to repair breaks are more prone to further damage and to radiosensitivity. Some tumours are resistant to the effects of radiation and are therefore resistant to therapy. Dr. Lees-Miller and her team are studying how the cells respond to breaks in their DNA due to radiation therapy and damage by oxidation.
Dr. Lees-Miller attracted international attention in 1990, when, as part of her post-doctoral research at Long Island’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, she discovered a new protein, which became known as DNA-PK. After five further years of study, the scientific community, including Dr. Lees-Miller’s laboratory, determined that DNA-PK plays a vital role in repairing DNA damage caused by ionizing radiation—the most common therapy for cancer patients. And, more recently, the first specific inhibitors of DNA-PK were discovered, paving the way for preclinical drug trials that might eventually lead to new and better cancer treatments.
Now Dr. Lees-Miller is also leading a multi-year study of a related protein called ATM. Like DNA-PK, the ATM protein helps repair DNA damage, including the kind that is inflicted by radiation therapy. But it also appears that the presence or vitality of ATM may determine why some people are more likely to get breast cancer in the first place. In addition, Dr. Lees-Miller and her team are looking at how ATM responds to the types of DNA damage caused by radiation therapy and some forms of chemotherapy. In the future, that could lead to cancer patients being treated with lower, more effective doses of radiation, with fewer side effects.
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Dr. Susan Lees-Miller, University of Calgary
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How can we reduce cancer-related suffering?
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Dr. Sharon Watanabe, Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
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Palliative care > Dr. Sharon Watanabe
What therapies are being studied to ease the pain of cancer patients?Despite advances in treatment, a significant number of patients with cancer will eventually die of the disease, and their special needs drive research in palliative care. Dr. Sharon Watanabe, director of the Department of Symptom Control and Palliative Care at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, is involved in clinical care and patient education about palliative care. Her research interests include multiple aspects of palliative care, such as pain control, appetite and weight loss, and symptom assessment.
Opioid analgesics are the mainstay of pain control in cancer. Nevertheless, their limitations in controlling pain and their side-effects mean that studies of alternative therapies are needed. Currently, Dr. Watanabe’s team is involved in studying the use of methadone for breakthrough cancer pain. Breakthrough pain, which is the pain that patients with bone metastases may experience when they change position, is difficult to treat with conventional pain medications because of their slow onset of action. However, an experimental preparation of methadone administered under the tongue starts to relieve pain in minutes for some patients.
Symptom scales in clinical practice are important, because a well-designed scale gives doctors a measure they can use to track changes in a patient’s condition over time and gives researchers a tool they can use to measure the effect of a treatment. The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) is a widely applied scale for measuring symptoms in palliative care and cancer patients. The ESAS was originally designed by researchers in Edmonton. Recently, Dr. Watanabe and her colleagues assessed 15 years of quality testing of the ESAS; they found that they needed to further investigate the patient point of view with regard to the scale. They have now completed a study of how patients use the ESAS and their opinions of the scale. On the basis of these results, a new version of the ESAS is now being tested.
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Dr. Marcy Winget, Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
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Health care outcomes research > Dr. Marcy Winget
How do we know Albertans are receiving the best cancer care possible?Dr. Winget’s research team studies the continuum of cancer care, from before diagnosis, through treatment, to long-term follow-up or, for some patients, end-of-life care. Their interest is in fully understanding how patients move through the system or systems and in defining where roadblocks might exist that have a measurable effect on the success of treatment. The outcome of this work will be recommendations as to where care might be improved as well as identifying the types of patients that have limited access to care, such as rural patients or older patients, with the intention of improving the health and survival of patients who are diagnosed with cancer.
Canada’s publicly funded healthcare system is in some respects ideal for this research, but Dr. Winget and her team have also faced definite challenges. Every province is responsible for its own healthcare delivery, and cancer care involves all aspects of medicine—from primary care to clinical study protocols to alternative and complementary medicine. The institutions and agencies involved range from those dedicated to cancer care to those not necessarily defined as healthcare institutions. Much of the data needed to describe the continuum of cancer care are not being collected, are not being collected in a form that allows the steps to be analysed, or are not being collected consistently across agencies, institutions, or provinces.
Dr. Winget and her team have also found that, to date, most attention is paid to time to radiotherapy or surgery, with little attention given to other types of treatment (including chemotherapy) or what happens before a cancer diagnosis or after initial treatment. Even for the measure of waiting times to treatment, there is a lack of good data to answer the question of “how long is too long” to wait. In a three-province collaborative research study, Dr. Winget helped identify the appropriate measures and approaches related to waiting times, so that comparisons from the patients’ perspective could be made across provinces.
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Research in Brief
A sampling of researchers who have received Alberta Cancer Foundation funding
Platform Technologies
Research in BriefDr. Vickie Baracos Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
Dr. Baracos’ area of interest is the malnutrition, muscle wasting, and involuntary weight loss (called cachexia) frequently associated with advanced cancer. Dr Baracos’ interdisciplinary research team explores the basic underlying problems that lead to these changes and the development of nutritional and metabolic treatments to prevent or reverse cachexia.
Dr. Oliver Bathe Alberta Health Services, University of Calgary
Dr. Bathe’s clinical research interest is in improving outcomes for the patient population he treats, patients with hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal tumors. He also runs a hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal tumor bank, and collaborates with experts in mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy, and metabolomics to identify predictive and prognostic biomarkers for these tumors. His lab is focused on understanding the molecular events in the tumor microenvironment that affect tumor progression.
Dr. Tara Beattie University of Calgary
Dr. Beattie studies human telomerase, which is the enzyme that replicates the ends of cellular chromosomes. In cancer, telomerase over-activity is part of the reason cancer cells are able to continue to grow and divide when normal cells would otherwise have reached their limit.
Dr. Gwyn Bebb Alberta Health Services, University of Calgary
Dr. Bebb’s clinical interest is in the treatment of lung and gastrointestinal cancer (stomach, pancreas, colorectal). His research interests are in novel therapies for lung cancer and mantle cell lymphoma and in developing a clinical-pathological database for lung cancer patients that can serve as a major lung cancer research tool for Alberta.
Dr. Barry Bultz Alberta Health Services
Dr. Bultz and his research team study the emotional and social impact of a cancer diagnosis and treatment on patients and their families. They have studied and developed strategies to assess and treat distress and enhance quality of life for those living with cancer.
Dr. Gregory Cairncross University of Calgary
Dr. Cairncross has been the principal investigator in international clinical trials and a collaborator in translational (bench-to-bedside) research studies in the treatment of glioblastoma, which is an aggressive form of brain tumour. Most patients with glioblastoma do not survive. However, results from a recent clinical trial that included Calgary as a study site showed that glioblastoma patients survived longer if they received the chemotherapy drug temozolomide in addition to radiation therapy.
Temozolomide is now part of the standard treatment for glioblastoma, and the relationship between the response to temozolomide and the genetic characteristics of cancer is the subject of further research for the treatment of other types of tumours. Dr. Cairncross and his team also continue to collaborate with groups from around the world to test the effectiveness of the drug temozolomide and radiation therapy in treating another form of brain cancer, anaplastic glioma.
Dr. Linda Carlson Alberta Health Services, University of Calgary
Dr. Carlson’s research group studies the emotional and social impact of cancer, with the intention of developing a system for recognition, triage, and referral of patients in distress. They are also interested in the mind-body relationship in cancer. A third area of study is survivorship, given that two-thirds of people diagnosed with cancer will be still alive five years later.
Dr. Carol Cass Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
Dr. Cass’ research group studies the proteins that transport nucleosides (building blocks of DNA and RNA) into cells, with particular attention to how these proteins transport chemotherapy drugs that have their effects by replacing nucleosides in DNA, and thereby damaging the DNA. This research will help refine the use of nucleoside drugs in the clinic.
Dr. Gordon Chan Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
Dr. Chan’s research group studies the mechanisms that control the cell’s cycle of division, with particular attention to how the normally dividing cell ensures that its chromosomes are equally divided between the two daughter cells—something that cancer cells frequently fail to do.
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Research in BriefDr. Jennifer Cobb University of Calgary
Dr. Cobb’s research group studies the molecular events that lead to chromosomal instability, with primary focus on the S phase checkpoint. One project involves understanding the function of RecQ helicases which have been termed “caretakers” of the human genome. These enzymes function during DNA repair and replication, preventing the accumulation of mutations common in cancer cells. Individuals who lack proper RecQ function in at least three of the five human homologues have a predisposition to cancer and in some cases exhibit premature aging.
Dr. Kerry Courneya University of Alberta
Dr. Courneya’s research group studies physical activity in patients with cancer. They examine the patterns of exercise in cancer patients at all stages of disease and treatment and determine how exercise affects symptoms, side effects of treatments, overall quality of life, disease recurrence, and overall survival. In addition, Dr. Courneya’s team studies effective means of promoting physical activity in cancer survivors.
Dr. Doug Demetrick
Dr. Demetrick’s research group studies the signals that control the growth and division of cancer cells. They are also developing methods for identifying subtypes of tumours by the presence of chromosome abnormalities and DNA sequence changes.
Dr. Corinne Doll Alberta Health Services
Dr. Doll and her research team know that some cancer patients fail to respond to radiation therapy and chemoradiotherapy, and they want to find out why. They are examining the role of particular proteins and genes (p53, HPV, and EGFR) that may cause tumours to be resistant to treatment. Once the role of these proteins and genes is better understood, it will be possible to develop laboratory tests that could be used to determine which patients will not respond to conventional therapy and subsequently develop targeted therapies that will truly help them.
Dr. Bernhard Eigl Alberta Health Services
Dr. Eigl is a medical oncologist whose research interests are in the fields of genitourinary oncology and in clinical trial design and methodology (ie, the design of clinical trials, potential barriers in conducting of and recruiting for clinical trials). He is currently chair of a provincial Data Safety Monitoring Committee for cancer and director of the Alberta Clinical Cancer Research Unit (ACCRU).
Dr. Peter Forsyth Alberta Health Services, University of Calgary
Dr. Forsyth’s research group is studying the use of new treatments for brain cancers when traditional therapies such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy stop working. His work focuses on (1) developing treatments that will stop cancer cells from invading normal tissue (called “invasion”) and (2) using oncolytic (tumour-killing) viruses as potential treatments for cancer.
The major barrier to the successful treatment of cancer patients is that most cancers invade the normal tissues and spread throughout the body. This means that treatments such as surgery or radiation therapy that are “local” and directed at the main tumour mass will be ineffective for cancers in which the tumour cells invade normal tissue, or metastasize. Dr. Forsyth’s team is studying how this occurs and testing treatments to stop or reverse this tumour invasion.
Dr. Forsyth’s second research focus involves using a number of viruses as experimental treatments for cancers. “Oncolytic” (or cancer-killing) viruses infect and kill cancer cells without seriously affecting normal cells. This selectivity arises because tumour cells have a certain oncogene turned on that make the cancer cells unable to mount a normal protective anti-viral response. So, the virus continues to replicate within a cancer cell, and when the cell dies, the virus particles are released to infect neighbouring cells, eventually spreading throughout the tumour. Dr. Forsyth and his team have tested this approach in the laboratory and performed several small clinical trials in a true “bench-to-bedside” research approach.
Dr. Donald Fujita University of Calgary
Dr. Fujita studies Src, a master control protein in the proliferation, maturation, and migration of cells and in the growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis). Elevated Src activity is involved in several cancers, including breast, colon, and prostate cancers and melanoma. Dr. Fujita is developing methods of blocking tumor growth and metastasis in experimental systems through targeted inhibition of cancer-causing gene products. These methods might facilitate the development of safer and more effective anti-cancer drugs.
Dr. Savraj Grewal University of Calgary
Abnormal cell growth is a hallmark of cancer. Dr. Grewal’s research group studies the genes that control cell growth in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. These fly genes are identical to human genes that are often mutated in cancer.
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Research in BriefDr. Neil Hagen Alberta Health Services, University of Calgary
Dr. Hagen’s research interest is in measuring pain in cancer patients, developing and assessing new means of alleviating pain, and improving the effectiveness of current methods. He is leading a team of researchers in testing sublingual (administered under the tongue) methadone in the treatment of “breakthrough” pain, when usual methods of pain relief act too slowly. He is also principal investigator of a Canada-wide trial of tetrodotoxin (puffer fish poison) as a novel cancer pain medication.
Dr. Mary Hitt Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
Dr. Hitt’s research group is developing viruses to fight cancer. She and her collaborators are working on various methods of ensuring that the therapy only affects cancer cells and not normal cells.
Dr. Frank Jirik University of Calgary
Researchers in Dr. Jirik’s laboratory are studying breast, prostate, and lung cancer, using mice to model commonly occurring human cancers. Using new imaging technologies, they are discovering ways to treat breast cancer cells that spread (metastasize) to bone. In the area of prostate cancer, transgenic mice are being used to study genes involved in causing human prostate cancer. The team is also working to understand how lung cancer caused by a tobacco carcinogen is accelerated in cells unable to correctly repair damage to their DNA.
Dr. Linda Kelemen Alberta Health Services
Dr. Linda Kelemen’s research focuses on the genetic and molecular epidemiology of cancer, particularly cancer of the ovaries and breast. She and her team are studying how environmental modifiers such as diet influence the genetic risk for cancer and its progression. They are also interested in identifying early biomarkers for cancer and understanding how molecular subtypes of tumours respond to treatment.
Dr. Olga Kovalchuk University of Lethbridge
In Dr. Kovalchuk’s laboratory, researchers are studying the relationship between DNA damage caused by radiation and other genotoxic agents, cell signaling, epigenetic regulation, stability of the genome and cancer (particularly cancer of the blood and breast).
Dr. AJB (Sandy) McEwan Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
Dr. McEwan is associate director of cancer research at the Cross Cancer Institute and chair of the Department of Oncology at the University of Alberta. He is also professor and acting director of the Department of Oncologic Imaging at the Cross Cancer Institute. Dr. McEwan is one of the world’s leading experts in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.
Dr. McEwan has published widely in the field of nuclear medicine. He was the recipient of a McCalla Professorship at the University of Alberta in 2001, a former President of the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine, and is now President of the Society of Nuclear Medicine.
Dr. Ron Moore Alberta Health Services
Conventional therapy for superficial transitional cell cancer of the bladder (sTCCB) and metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) involves revving up the immune system. For sTCCB, this involves instilling a live mycobacterium into the bladder, which increases the risk of severe infection. The immune system releases molecules that tell cancer cells to die (death ligands), but cancer can produce adaptive molecules that will allow cancer cells to survive. Dr. Ron Moore and his team are working to establish combination therapies with these newly discovered molecules that will selectively eliminate the cancer cells, without the risk of infection. Programming the cells to undergo programmed cell death (called apoptosis) will also potentially eliminate the risk of other side effects, including secondary cancers.
Dr. David Murray Alberta Health Services
Dr. Murray’s research group studies how cells repair their DNA after it is damaged by ionizing radiation or anti-cancer drugs, how these responses are affected by other cell processes commonly altered in cancer, and how the differences may be used to an advantage in treatment. He also studies the genetic variations that indicate which patients will respond differently to radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
Dr. Albert Murtha Alberta Health Services
Dr. Murtha’s research interests include the development of sophisticated computer analyses (machine learning) on advanced diagnostic images to examine how the metabolism of tumours changes during radiation therapy compared to that of normal tissues. He is also involved in research aimed at optimizing the technique of prostate brachytherapy (using radioactive beads implanted into the tumour to deliver radiation therapy).
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Research in BriefDr. Matthew Parliament Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
Dr. Matthew Parliament’s clinical interests include head and neck and genitourinary (GU) malignancies. He and his research colleagues were early adopters of 3D conformal radiotherapy, intensity modulated radiotherapy, and tomotherapy on the Canadian scene. They are interested in studies of improved patient outcome using advanced image guided RT technologies. These studies use physician—and patient—derived toxicity reporting, including in-depth quality of life assessment in head and neck cancer and prostate cancer. They are also beginning to explore the ways in which advanced functional imaging modalities can enhance targeting in head and neck and GU malignancies.
In collaboration with the PolyomX initiative, they have begun to explore the genetic basis for inter-individual variation in radiation treatment toxicity outcomes. Using single nucleotide polymorphism sequencing, key candidate genes in DNA damage repair, tissue remodeling and homeostasis are analyzed for their potential association with documented toxicity. They also use a comprehensive dosimetry database to provide the physical dose correlate of archival treatments.
Dr. Karl Riabowol University of Calgary
Dr. Riabowol’s research group studies the mechanisms that cause cells normally to stop dividing with age (senescence) and the ways that cancer cells circumvent these limits to continue dividing. They also study telomers (the protective caps preventing shortening of chromosomal ends) and tumor suppressor genes and proteins.
Dr. Andrew Shaw Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
Dr. Shaw’s research investigates how the nuclear factor kappa B family, proteins that control the expression of genes for apoptosis (programmed cell death) and cell growth, influence the development and progression of breast cancer. In addition, because nuclear factor kappa B proteins are activated by cancer therapies, they are a potential target for new anti-cancer drugs.
Dr. Joan Turner Alberta Health Services
Dr. Turner’s research group investigates the mechanisms that cause some human tumors to be resistant to radiation therapy. They are also interested in understanding how tumor cells can adapt to and survive under conditions of low oxygen and nutrient supply, and thus become treatment resistant. This work is particularly focused on three tumor sites—the brain, breast, and cervix.
Dr. Jack Tuszynski Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
Dr. Tuszynski is the leader of the computational biophysics group that uses computers to design drugs. His particular interest is in tubulin, which constructs the scaffolding that separates the chromosomes during cell division and is, therefore, an important target for chemotherapy drugs.
Dr. Peter Venner Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta
Dr. Venner is the director of the Division of Medical Oncology at the Cross Cancer Institute. He is involved in clinical research into the treatment of prostate, kidney, and bladder cancer, in the form of investigator-initiated, cooperative, and industry-sponsored studies. Recently, he was involved in the publication of results from the ASCENT trial about chemotherapy for metastatic prostate cancer, and he participated in studies that led to the approval of sunitinib in the treatment of advanced kidney cancer.
Dr. Michael Weinfeld Alberta Health Services
Dr. Weinfeld’s research group investigates how cells respond to damage by ionizing radiation and chemicals, especially with regard to DNA repair. In collaboration with Drs. Mark Glover (University of Alberta) and Susan Lees-Miller (University of Calgary), he is studying human polynucleotide kinase (PNK), an enzyme which prepares broken DNA strands so they can be efficiently rejoined. He is also collaborating with Dr. X. Chris Le (University of Alberta) in a study of how arsenic causes cancer.
Dr. Frederick West University of Alberta
Dr. Frederick West and his research team are trying to “rescue” chemotherapy drugs that have shown promise in the laboratory but that cannot be used in patients because of their toxic side effects. They are developing ways for these potent drugs to be delivered more selectively to cancer cells, allowing patients to receive lower doses of chemotherapy drugs and have fewer side effects.
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Platform TechnologiesAlberta Cancer Registry
A population-based registry (database) for recording information about all new cancer cases and deaths in Alberta. The Alberta Cancer Registry is accredited with a Gold Award by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. The Gold Award means that the registry captures more than 95 per cent of all new cancer cases in Alberta.
Alberta Research Tumour Bank
A collection of high-quality tissue samples from patients that is linked with important clinical data about those patients. Researchers from Alberta and elsewhere can use these samples to answer questions about cancer treatments and outcomes.
Animal imaging
Allows researchers to develop new imaging techniques and technologies to further their understanding of how cancer develops and progresses in people. Examples of imaging techniques already in use include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET).
Bioinformatics and computational biology
Bioinformatics uses mathematical, statistical, and computer-aided formulas to analyze information that researchers already know about a problem while computational biology uses computers to analyze “hypotheses,” or what researchers think they know about a problem. In cancer research, both types are often used to map how and where cell mutations occur.
Cellular imaging
“Seeing” into cells and their parts is one of the ways that researchers can understand how a cell works. Cellular imaging involves the use of powerful microscopes and special proteins that “label” the molecules of cells, so that researchers can actually look at how live cells function when they are healthy or diseased.
Cyclotron
A device that uses electric fields to accelerate particles (electrons) to very high speeds. In cancer treatment, cyclotron beams can be used to penetrate the body and kill tumours with the least possible harm to surrounding healthy tissue. Cyclotron beams are also used to produce the isotope-labeled tracers needed for positron emission tomography (PET). The medical cyclotron facility at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton makes a short-lived isotope of fluorine, called fluorine-18, for use in PET.
DNA microarray technology
Allows researchers to examine thousands of genes at once and determine which of those genes are active in a particular cell type. Using DNA microarray technology, researchers can classify cancer types by the patterns of gene activity within a tumour cell. In the future, this technology could be used to tailor the treatment to the type of cancer.
High-throughput screening
A technique that allows researchers to analyze a large number of chemical compounds or genes at once. Chemical compounds identified with high-throughput screening can be used to understand the molecular relationships that lead to cancer and to develop new medicines for treatment. It may also be used for identifying genes that could be potential targets for new cancer treatments.
Image-guided adaptive radiotherapy (IGAR) program
The IGAR program at the Cross Cancer Institute (CCI) in Edmonton is the only one of its kind in the world and incorporates one of the world’s first helical tomotherapy systems for use in humans; an ultra-high, whole body (3T) magnetic resonance (MR) human imaging and spectroscopy system; a 9.4T MR animal imaging and spectroscopy system (the strongest imaging magnetic field in Canada); an image-fusion laboratory; and the computer laboratories for the Canadian Computational Cancer Center (C4). These MR systems provide the anatomic, functional, metabolic, and biochemical information to identify disease at an earlier stage and to monitor treatment response—either immediately after or at intervals.
With the use of the 9.4T MR animal imaging system, researchers at the Center for Biological Imaging and Adaptive Radiotherapy (CBIAR) at CCI are at the forefront of the emerging field of MR molecular imaging. Molecular imaging allows researchers to go beyond traditional imaging of anatomic changes by seeing and measuring metabolic processes at the cellular and molecular level. Researchers at CCI use this tool in animal models to probe the biological mechanisms of cancer and the response to innovative treatments. Results of the studies can then be applied in humans.
Information management (enterprise business)
The process of managing and analyzing information collected about cancer. The information is used in cancer research, for facility planning and marketing, for monitoring patient outcomes, in cancer prevention and surveillance programs, and to evaluate current and new treatments.
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Platform TechnologiesMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
A method of imaging that uses radiofrequency waves and a magnetic field to produce 3-D images of the body’s tissues. It can be used to diagnose cancer and to find out if it has spread to other parts of the body to enable staging and planning of radiation therapy. MRI is useful for detecting cancer of the brain, spinal cord, lungs, liver, and kidneys and can be combined with mammography to detect breast cancer.
Noninvasive molecular imaging
Allows researchers to look inside cells and see how they are working at the molecular level. Researchers use special probes called “biomarkers,” which interact chemically with surrounding tissues to highlight areas of molecular activity. Noninvasive molecular imaging is useful for diagnosing cancer and for testing new medicines for treatment.
Optical imaging
An imaging technique that uses infrared light to create pictures of the body. Optical imaging is not yet used in patients, but it is one of the fastest-growing imaging techniques for cancer research.
Positron emission tomography (PET)
An imaging technique that uses a harmless radioactive tracer injected into the bloodstream and hundreds of radiation detectors that track and measure the tracer in the body, where it accumulates in tumours, highlighting them, or in the normal tissues around tumours. The PET scanner then uses computers to create pictures of the body’s tissues. PET scanning is very useful for detecting breast and lung cancers, lymphoma and melanoma. Doctors also use PET to stage cancers and to monitor if treatment is working.
Population database
The Tomorrow Project, an Alberta Cancer Foundation research initiative, tracks a population of 50,000 healthy people in a long-term study of lifestyle and cancer.
Proteomics
The study of the structure and function of proteins. Cancer researchers are using proteomics to identify biomarkers, which can be individual proteins or patterns of protein expression that can be used for diagnosing disease or for developing new medicines. One of the first biomarkers used in disease diagnosis was prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Today, doctors commonly use PSA levels for diagnosing prostate cancer.
Radiopharmaceuticals manufacturing facility
The Edmonton Radiopharmaceutical Centre is a centralized radiopharmacy operating out of the Cross Cancer Institute. It manufactures special radio-labeled diagnostic and therapeutic agents for hospitals and researchers.
SNP analysis
Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP or “snip”) analysis involves analyzing variations in the sequence of DNA that involve changes to single nucleotides, which are the components of DNA (and RNA) that carry the genetic information. These variations in the DNA sequence can affect how susceptible people are to diseases like cancer, or how well their bodies tolerate treatment for cancer. For cancer researchers working on model organisms like fruit flies, SNP analysis is valuable for assessing variations that are artificially produced for research purposes.
Tomotherapy
Tomotherapy uses a helical tomotherapy machine to combine computed tomography (CT) scanning and radiation therapy. Tomotherapy delivers the radiation directly to the tumour, sparing healthy tissue around it, because the CT scan continuously shows the location and outline of the tumour.
Donor Profile
Frank Sojonky
Seventeen years ago, at the age of 62, Frank Sojonky was diagnosed with inoperable prostate cancer.
Frank Sojonky with his wife Carla.
Today, he gives his time to raising funds through the Alberta Cancer Foundation. Under his leadership, a core of donors and volunteers raised more than $2.5 million for prostate cancer research. The money raised has been matched by the Alberta Cancer Foundation to establish the Frank and Carla Sojonky Chair in Prostate Cancer Research at the Cross Cancer Institute. The chair will spearhead a province-wide research collaboration in the area of prostate cancer, which affects more than 2,000 Alberta men each year. More than 300 Albertans die of prostate cancer each year.
Mr. Sojonky was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, the oldest of five children. He opened a restaurant when he was 22 years old with $275 and his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Regina College (now the University of Regina) as his only collateral.
“I loved cooking, and I was born an entrepreneur,” says Mr. Sojonky. That entrepreneurial nature eventually led him to the world of commercial and residential real estate development, where his creativity and determination have made their mark across western Canada for more than 40 years.
For years, Mr. Sojonky hid his battle with prostate cancer, until 2003, when the cancer began to spread. Now he does not hide: he knows he will die of prostate cancer. Huge steps forward in cancer diagnosis and treatment are too late for him. However, that does not stop him in his determination to make a difference.
When he learned from his oncologist, Dr. Peter Venner, of a 3D diagnostic tool, he told Dr. Venner, “Buy it. You order it, and I’ll find the money.”
Not only did he raise the money for the machine through a personal pledge of $275,000, but fundraising efforts by friends and colleagues raised nearly twice the amount needed.
And now his end goal of establishing an endowed chair for prostate cancer research has also been achieved because of his entrepreneurial spirit.
“It is a rare privilege,” says Mr. Sojonky, “to be a part of saving even one life.”
DonorsThe Alberta Cancer Foundation supports the quest for a cancer-free future by building ongoing donor support for research, prevention, treatment and care.
The Alberta Cancer Foundation is the charitable foundation for the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary; the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton; associate cancer centres in Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Red Deer, and Medicine Hat; and 11 community cancer centres across Alberta. All funds contributed to the Alberta Cancer Foundation stay in the province of Alberta.
Donations to the Alberta Cancer Foundation help
> Fund and coordinate cancer research in the province
> Provide evidence-based prevention and screening programs, so fewer people will get cancer
> Provide diagnosis, treatment, and care to Albertans through its cancer-centre sites located province-wide.
Donors to the Alberta Cancer Foundation make it possible to fund research projects that will ultimately improve the quality of cancer care and outcomes for all Albertans. In 2009, thanks to a transformational donation from Daryl and Diane Howards, new state-of-the-art research laboratories in Calgary were opened where research teams dedicated to DNA repair, pediatric oncology, molecular cancer epidemiology, and brain tumour research are housed.
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Endowed ChairsThe establishment of research chairs is a critical tool in attracting senior investigators to Alberta and for keeping skilled cancer researchers in the province. To date, the Alberta Cancer Foundation has contributed to the funding of 11 chairs in cancer research in Alberta:
Alberta Cancer Foundation Chair in Brain Tumour Research (Dr. Greg Cairncross, Calgary)
Formed through a partnership between the Alberta Cancer Foundation and the University of Calgary, the $3-million Alberta Cancer Foundation Chair in Brain Tumor Research helps Dr. Gregory Cairncross provide leadership in developing and maintaining a world-class brain tumour research program in Calgary.
Allard Foundation Chair in Experimental Oncology (Dr. Jack Tuszynski, Edmonton)
Funded by the Alberta Cancer Foundation, the $3-million Allard Chair helps physicist Dr. Jack Tuszynski apply an interdisciplinary approach in developing novel chemotherapy drugs and new methods for treating cancer.
Chair in Molecular Cancer Epidemiology (Dr. Marty Slatterly)
The $5-million Chair in Molecular Cancer Epidemiology will provide the leadership for developing and maintaining a world-class program in molecular cancer epidemiology.
Engineered Air Chair in Cancer Research (Dr. Susan Lees-Miller, Calgary)
The $5-million Engineered Air Chair in Cancer Research was made possible through generous funding commitments from Engineered Air to the Alberta Cancer Foundation and from the University of Calgary.
Since its creation in 2003, the chair has been held by Dr. Susan Lees-Miller. Leading a team of researchers, Dr. Lees-Miller investigates how human cells recognize and repair DNA that has been damaged as a result of ionizing radiation.
Kids Cancer Care Foundation Chair in Pediatric Oncology (Recruiting)
The Kids Cancer Foundation Chair in Pediatric Oncology is the largest funded oncology chair of its kind in Canada. Worth $6 million, the endowed chair at the Alberta Children’s Hospital is designed to attract a cancer scientist of international stature who will build a world-class childhood cancer research program in Alberta.
Alberta Cancer Foundation Chair in Palliative Research (Dr. Vickie Baracos, Edmonton)
The Alberta Cancer Foundation Chair in Palliative Research helps Dr. Vickie Baracos and her team of researchers conduct innovative research in metabolism in wasting disorders, such as skeletal muscle atrophy and a cancer-associated wasting syndrome called cachexia. Dr. Baracos’ research focuses on the metabolic abnormalities that underlie this wasting syndrome associated with advanced cancer.
Mary Johnston Chair in Melanoma Research (Dr. Alan Underhill, Edmonton)
This $3-million research chair was made possible by a $1-million donation to the Alberta Cancer Foundation from the family of Mary Johnston, former chair of the Alberta Society for Melanoma. Ms. Johnston died of melanoma in 2004. The endowment will allow for a long-term commitment to research directed at identifying key pathways in the development of melanoma that could lead to potential targets for prevention and therapy. As the Mary Johnston Melanoma Research Chair, Dr. Alan Underhill will study how proteins that normally function during melanocyte development are exploited in melanoma. This research may lead to improved outcomes and treatments for patients with melanoma. Dianne & Irving Kipnes Endowed Chair in Radiopharmaceutical Sciences (Dr. Frank Wuest, Edmonton)
Dianne and Irving Kipnes, both successfully treated for cancer at the Cross Cancer Institute, donated $5 million to create a new research chair in radiopharmaceutical sciences. The Kipnes’ donation is the largest single gift the Alberta Cancer Foundation has received. With Dr. Frank Wuest’s expertise, the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Program, located within the world’s first Centre for Biological Imaging and Adaptive Radiotherapy at the Cross Cancer Institute, will now be able to focus on developing new indicators that find cancer cells and monitor treatment better than ever before. Enbridge Chair in Psychosocial Oncology (Dr. Linda Carlson, Calgary)
This $3-million chair in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary is co-funded by the Alberta Cancer Foundation and the Canadian Cancer Society, Alberta/NWT Division, which contributed $1.5 million. The Alberta Cancer Foundation’s funding includes a $1.2 million donation from Enbridge Inc. This gift, the largest charitable donation ever made by Enbridge, was a centennial gift to Albertans facing cancer. Dr. Linda Carlson is a leader in the field of psychosocial oncology research. Of note is her research on distress prevalence and on evidence-based alternative therapies, such as yoga and meditation, which have helped numerous patients reduce their stress levels and improve their quality of life. Weekend to End Breast Cancer Chair (recruiting)
The Weekend to End Breast Cancer Chair will lead Alberta’s Breast Cancer Research Initiative, which currently has more than 30 breast cancer research projects. Frank and Carla Sojonky Chair in Prostate Cancer Research (recruiting)
This $5-million chair is situated at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. The fundraising efforts of Frank and Carla Sojonky and others was matched by the Alberta Cancer Foundation to spearhead a province-wide research collaboration for advancing knowledge of the causes, prevention, and treatments of prostate cancer.
More information The International Advisory Committee on Research (IACOR)
The International Advisory Committee on Research is a committee of international cancer experts who advise the Alberta Cancer Research Institute (ACRI) on research policy. This committee also provides an independent review of the research activities performed at ACRI.
Researchers may apply for grant money from the Alberta Cancer Research Institute to help them perform their research. Grant applications are reviewed by IACOR, which includes the following members:
Dr. Phillip E. BrantonDirector, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Cancer Research
Dr. Lewis CantleyProfessor of Systems Biology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Dr. Carol Cass (Ex-officio)Director of the Cross Cancer Institute Scientific Director Designate of ACRI
Dr. Sara CourtneidgeProgram Director, Professor, Burnham Institute
Dr. Robert DayPresident and Director Emeritus, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre
Dr. Gilles FavreInstitut Claudius Regaud [not listed on website]
Dr. Abraham FuksProfessor, McGill University
Dr. Donald C. IversonExecutive Dean, University of Wollongong
Dr. Cyril Kay (Ex-officio)Senior Scientific Advisor, ACRI; Department of Biochemistry, University of Alberta
Dr. James MarshallSenior Vice President, Department of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Dr. Arnold NaimarkDirector and Professor, Department of Physiology, University of Manitoba
Dr. Nahum SonenbergProfessor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill Cancer Centre
Dr. Margaret TemperoDeputy Director and Director of Clinical Sciences, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Martin J. YaffeSenior Scientist, Department of Imaging Research, Sunnybrook HSC
International Advisory Committee on Prevention and Screening (IACOPS)
This group was formed to bring an international perspective and advice on priorities for investment in prevention and screening research initiatives in the province. Membership includes
Dr. Sally Vernon (Chair), Professor, The University of Texas Health Science Center–Houston, Houston, Texas
Dr. David Hill, Director, The Cancer Control Council, Victoria, Australia
Professor Don Iverson, Dean, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, Wollongong, Australia
Dr. Jon Kerner, Deputy Director, Research Dissemination and Diffusion, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland
Ms. Julietta Patnick, Director, NHS Cancer Screening, Sheffield, UK
Dr. John Potter, Director, Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington
Dr. James Marshall, Sr. Vice President, Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York
Dr. Jacques Bez, Canceropole, Toulouse, France
Alberta Cancer Foundation710-10123 99 St NW Edmonton AB T5J 3H1 tf: 1 (866) 412-4222; p: 780.643.4400; f: 780.643.4398 w: albertacancer.cae: [email protected]
