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Sources:
Masaaki Tamura, 785-532-4825, mtamura@vet.k-state.edu;
and Deryl Troyer, 785-532-4509, troyer@vet.k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Brennan Engle, 785-532-4193, bengle@vet.k-state.edu
Tuesday,
February 6, 2007
RESEARCHERS
FROM K-STATE COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE RECEIVE GRANT TO CONDUCT
STEM CELL-BASED CANCER STUDIES
MANHATTAN
-- Two researchers at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary
Medicine have received a $100,000 grant to research stem cell therapy
in the treatment of lung cancer.
The
grant was awarded by Joan's Legacy: The Joan Scarangello Foundation
to Conquer Lung Cancer.
The
research being conducted by K-State's Masaaki Tamura and Deryl Troyer,
both of the department of anatomy and physiology, uses stem cells
to safely deliver therapeutic drugs to cancerous lung tumors.
"This
is a great honor to be selected for this grant, and we are very
pleased to have the support so we can continue our research that
is unique in the areas of both cancer and stem cells," Tamura
said.
The
stem cells used in the research are from the cushioning material,
or matrix, of umbilical cords from both humans and animals. These
postnatal stem cells were discovered by scientists from K-State's
colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture and can be collected
in large numbers inexpensively and are harvested from a tissue that
is typically discarded.
Troyer,
one of the original discoverers of the cord matrix stem cells, said
that in mice, the stem cells have been shown to successfully deliver
the anti-cancer drug interferon beta to intended tumors.
"We've
gotten very dramatic responses," he said. "A significant
percentage of the stem cells migrated to the cancer and delivered
the therapeutic payload of the interferon treatment. In our experiments,
this procedure slowed tumor growth and even reduced their size."
Tamura
has researched the carcinogenesis of tumors of the lung and colon
for the past six years and understands the need for a cure.
"Mortality
of lung cancer is enormously high. Only 15 percent of those diagnosed
with lung cancer will survive five years. It's a very serious disease,"
he said.
According
to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 160,000 people in the
United States will die from lung cancer this year.
Joan's
Legacy is committed to fighting lung cancer with innovative research
and increasing its awareness with a focus on non-smoking related
lung cancer. The foundation has awarded more than $2.4 million in
direct research grants for lung cancer research to date. It was
established in honor of Joan Scarangello McNeive, a 47-year-old
nonsmoker and New York writer who died in 2001 after a nine-month
battle with the disease.
Tamura
and Troyer's research also will involve a type of lung cancer called
bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, the type of cancer McNeive had. It
typically strikes middle-age women who don't smoke and is especially
difficult to treat.
The
researchers plan to test the interferon beta therapy in combination
with other chemotherapy drugs and new immune system-enhancing compounds.
Susan
Mantel, executive director of Joan's Legacy, said the research proposal
she received from K-State was one of only 11 proposals selected
for funding this year from more than 50 submitted.
"This
stem cell therapy is one of the areas of real promise and hope of
changing the outcomes for lung cancer, which is a particularly hopeless
disease," Mantel said. "We really felt this cutting-edge
research could make a difference in this understudied area."
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