June 2007
Largest Ever Lung Cancer Trial Based on LICR Cancer Vaccine
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced, on June 5th, that it is initiating the largest clinical trial ever conducted for lung cancer. The trial is assessing a cancer vaccine, or 'ASCI' (antigen-specific cancer immunotherapy) as GSK calls it, first developed by the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative, a partnership between LICR and the Cancer Research Institute, New York. Monitoring data from the first-in-man trial conducted by the CVC convinced GSK to initiate a Phase II trial, which indicated the cancer vaccine can provide a 27% relative reduction in the risk of non-small cell lung cancer recurrence following surgery. The vaccine/ASCI is based on the cancer-testis antigen, MAGE-A3, which was discovered at the Brussels Branch, and one of GSK's proprietary adjuvants.
LICR Cancer Initiatives
We now know that cancer is a term that describes multiple diseases. We also now know that tumors are somewhat like the body's organs, with each tumor type having its own structure and environment. Further progress in cancer control will come from comprehensive studies of specific tumor types. Accordingly, the Institute has recently established 'Cancer Initiatives,' through which our investigators can meet and share data and findings relevant to the tumor being studied. Two Cancer Initiative meetings were held this quarter; follow the links to read the brief reports.
Brain Cancer Initiative Meeting
The Brain Cancer Initiative held its first meeting in New York on June 8th and 9th. LICR has a strong history in glioblastoma research, in particular, and there was great enthusiasm for 34 people from six Branches, the Melbourne Center, the Ludwig Center at Johns Hopkins and two Affiliates were present at the meeting. Read more »
Breast & Prostate Cancer Initiative Meeting
The Breast Cancer Initiative meeting was held in Zurich on June 21 and 22nd. The organizer of the meeting was Prof. A. Munro Neville, the former Associate Director of the Institute, who is now the Initiative's Coordinator. Present at the meeting were 22 people representing five Branches, five Affiliates and other collaborating institutes. Read more »
Symposium Held in Honor of Jean-Charles Cerottini
Dr. Jean-Charles Cerottini, the Institute’s first Branch Director, stepped down as Director on the LICR Lausanne Branch on August 31st, 2006. This month, a scientific symposium was held in Lausanne in his honor. Organized by Acting Branch Director, Dr. Rob MacDonald, the symposium was attended by a “who’s who” of cancer research investigators who have worked in Switzerland over the past 30 years. Read a report on Dr. Cerottini’s keynote address here.
LICR Launches 'Recepta' in Brazil—That Country's First Oncology Biotech
On June 14th, Brazil's first oncology biotechnology company—Recepta Pharma—was launched by LICR and PR&D, a Brazilian venture capital company. The launch, which included a press conference featuring LICR's Drs. Andy Simpson and Jonathan Skippper (Executive Director for Intellectual Property & Technology Licensing) and Mr. Sergio Rezende (Brazil's Federal Minster for Science and Technology) - received nation-wide media coverage.Read about the Recepta launch here.
More Major Awards for LICR Staff
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has awarded two of its top three prizes to Drs. Richard Kolodner and Webster Cavenee (San Diego Branch). The AACR is considered one the largest and most prestigious professional associations for cancer researchers with a membership of over 24,000 worldwide. Additionally, Dr. Anamaria Camargo (São Paulo Branch) is the recipient of one of four prizes awarded by TWAS (Region of Latin America and Caribbean) for 2007. TWAS, or the “Third World Academy of Sciences,” is an international organization that aims to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable development of the southern hemisphere. Click Below to read about the awards.
Dr. Webster Cavenee (Director, San Diego Branch) - The Princess Takamatsu Memorial Award Lectureship
Dr. Anamaria Camargo (São Paulo Branch) - 2007 TWAS ROLAC Young Scientist Prize for Medical Sciences
LICR News
Staff Appointments & Promotions
To Associate Investigator: Dr. Ji Hong (Melbourne Branch)
To Associate Investigator: Dr. Frank Furnari (San Diego Branch)
To Associate Member: Dr. Anamaria Camargo (São Paulo Branch
To Associate Member: Dr. Sacha Gnjatic (New York Branch)
To Associate Member: Dr. Terry Johns (Melbourne Center)
Selected Manuscripts
Science
From the laboratory of Dr. Don Cleveland (San Diego Branch):
Weaver BA, Cleveland DW. Comment on "A centrosome-independent role for gamma-TuRC proteins in the spindle assembly checkpoint". Science. 2007 May 18;316(5827):982; author reply 982. PMID: 17510348
Clinical Cancer Research
From the laboratories of Drs. Andrew Scott and Ian Davis (Melbourne Center) and Lloyd Old (Director, New York Branch):
Scott AM, Tebbutt N, Lee FT, Cavicchiolo T, Liu Z, Gill S, Poon AM, Hopkins W, Smyth FE, Murone C, Macgregor D, Papenfuss AT, Chappell B, Saunder TH, Brechbiel MW, Davis ID, Murphy R, Chong G, Hoffman EW, Old LJ. A Phase I Biodistribution and Pharmacokinetic Trial of Humanized Monoclonal Antibody Hu3s193 in Patients with Advanced Epithelial Cancers that Express the Lewis-Y Antigen. Clin Cancer Res. 2007 Jun 1;13(11):3286-92. PMID: 17545534
Journal of Cell Science
From the laboratory of Dr. Vilma Martins (São Paulo Branch):
Hajj GN, Lopes MH, Mercadante AF, Veiga SS, da Silveira RB, Santos TG, Ribeiro KC, Juliano MA, Jacchieri SG, Zanata SM, Martins VR. Cellular prion protein interaction with vitronectin supports axonal growth and is compensated by integrins. J Cell Sci. 2007 Jun 1;120(Pt 11):1915-26. Epub 2007 May 15. PMID: 17504807
From the laboratories of Drs. John Timms, Buzz Baum and Michael Waterfield (London Branch):
Jovceva E, Larsen MR, Waterfield MD, Baum B, Timms JF. Dynamic cofilin phosphorylation in the control of lamellipodial actin homeostasis. J Cell Sci. 2007 Jun 1;120(Pt 11):1888-97. Epub 2007 May 15. PMID: 17504806
Journal of Immunology
From the laboratories of Drs. Margaret Hibbs and Tony Burgess (Melbourne Branch):
Hibbs ML, Quilici C, Kountouri N, Seymour JF, Armes JE, Burgess AW, Dunn AR. Mice lacking three myeloid colony-stimulating factors (G-CSF, GM-CSF, and M-CSF) still produce macrophages and granulocytes and mount an inflammatory response in a sterile model of peritonitis. J Immunol. 2007 May 15;178(10):6435-43. PMID: 17475873
From the laboratories of Dr. Alex Knuth (Affiliate, Zurich) and Drs. Daniel Speiser and Pedro Romero (Lausanne Branch):
Romero P, Zippelius A, Kurth I, Pittet MJ, Touvrey C, Iancu EM, Corthesy P, Devevre E, Speiser DE, Rufer N. Four functionally distinct populations of human effector-memory CD8+ T lymphocytes. J Immunol. 2007 Apr 1;178(7):4112-9. PMID: 17371966.
From the laboratory of Dr. Bart Vanhaesebroeck (London Branch):
Geering B, Cutillas PR, Nock G, Gharbi SI, Vanhaesebroeck B. Class IA phosphoinositide 3-kinases are obligate p85-p110 heterodimers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 May 8;104(19):7809-14. Epub 2007 Apr 30. PMID: 17470792
From the laboratory of Dr. Huilin Zhou (San Diego Branch):
Smolka MB, Albuquerque CP, Chen SH, Zhou H. Proteome-wide identification of in vivo targets of DNA damage checkpoint kinases. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Jun 11; [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 17563356
From the laboratory of Dr. Richard Kolodner (San Diego Branch):
Mendillo ML, Putnam CD, Kolodner RD. Escherichia coli MutS Tetramerization Domain Structure Reveals That Stable Dimers but Not Tetramers Are Essential for DNA Mismatch Repair in Vivo. J Biol Chem. 2007 Jun 1;282(22):16345-54. Epub 2007 Apr 10. PMID: 17426027
Portier N, Audhya A, Maddox PS, Green RA, Dammermann A, Desai A, Oegema K. A microtubule-independent role for centrosomes and aurora a in nuclear envelope breakdown. Dev Cell. 2007 Apr;12(4):515-29. PMID: 17419991
Maddox AS, Lewellyn L, Desai A, Oegema K. Anillin and the septins promote asymmetric ingression of the cytokinetic furrow. Dev Cell. 2007 May;12(5):827-35. PMID: 17488632
Clayton AH, Tavarnesi ML, Johns TG. Unligated epidermal growth factor receptor forms higher order oligomers within microclusters on A431 cells that are sensitive to tyrosine kinase inhibitor binding. Biochemistry. 2007 Apr 17;46(15):4589-97. Epub 2007 Mar 24. PMID: 17381163
Galante PA, Vidal DO, de Souza JE, Camargo AA, de Souza SJ. Sense-antisense pairs in mammals: functional and evolutionary considerations. Genome Biol. 2007;8(3):R40. PMID: 17371592
In Brief
LICR Phase I Trial Promises New Diagnostic Test for Renal Cell Carcinoma
An antibody characterized and put into first-in-man clinical trials by LICR investigators has been shown to be able to differentiate between benign kidney masses and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in a pilot study conducted by Drs. Chaitanya Divgi (Affiliate, Pennyslvania) and Lloyd Old (Director, New York Branch). The antibody, G250, has been licensed for therapeutic development, but the licensing partner—on the basis of the LICR-sponsored study—will now initiate a Phase II trial to assess G250’s diagnostic potential. If successful, this approach would obviate the need for surgery to diagnose RCC.
Divgi CR, Pandit Taskar N, Jungbluth AA, Reuter VE, Gönen M, Ruan S, Pierre C, Nagel A, Pryma DA, Humm J, Larson SM, Old LJ, Russo P. Preoperative characterisation of clear-cell renal carcinoma using iodine-124-labelled antibody chimeric G250 (124I-cG250) and PET in patients with renal masses: a phase I trial.
Daniel K. Ludwig Honored in Time Magazine's "Most Influential People" Issue
The Time magazine issue 'The Most Influential People in the World' (May 14th, 2007) included Mr. Ludwig in it's list of “Power Givers - Philanthropists of Yore.’ The list of 11 such philanthropists also included Messrs. John Pierpont Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Alfred Nobel, Cecil Rhodes and Joseph Pulitzer.
Conference Sponsorship Funds Available
As part of its commitment to cancer research, LICR’s Executive Directorate has made limited funds available such that the Institute can officially sponsor cancer conferences or symposia at which senior LICR investigators will be honored or speaking. Interested individuals are invited to contact Dr. Sarah White, Director of the Office of Communications for more information.
World Conference of Science Journalists
LICR was well-represented at the 5th World Conference of Science Journalists held April 17th to 19th in Melbourne. The Office of Communications sponsored an information booth (see picture below), and Melbourne Branch Director, Dr. Tony Burgess organized the Melbourne Branch and Center to join forces to give the only session on cancer research at the entire conference. The translational and clinical research presentations were given by Drs. Steven Stacker and Tony Burgess (Melbourne Branch) and Drs. Jonathan Cebon and Andrew Scott (Melbourne Center). LICR is grateful to Vegenics Ltd. for being a co-sponsor of the cancer research session.