The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute announced Tuesday it received a $3 million grant from the Herrick Foundation.
The initial gift of $1 million launches The Herrick Foundation Cancer Research Challenge, a special initiative to increase research funding at the Karmanos Cancer Institute over the next four years.
The additional commitment of $2 million will be given in match funding. For every dollar Karmanos raises for cancer research beginning Oct. 1, the Herrick Foundation will match dollar-for-dollar up to $500,000 per year, over the next four years.
Karmanos officials also reported that one of its immunology researchers, Venuprasad K. Poojary, had received a two-year National Institutes of Health Grant of almost $1 million.
The Herrick Foundation grant and the matching dollars will fund key research initiatives in five areas:
* Karmanos' National Oncogenomics and Molecular Imaging Center
* Pediatric Leukemia
* Lung Cancer
* New Imaging Technologies for Cancer Detection and Treatment
* Prostate Cancer
"The Herrick Foundation is encouraged by the tremendous progress in cancer research. More people are surviving a cancer diagnosis than ever before," said Todd W. Herrick, president of the Herrick Foundation. "However, too many still succumb to this disease. Supporting scientific research is critical to provide new hope and an eventual cure for our loved ones and friends. As one of the leading comprehensive cancer centers in the country, the Karmanos Cancer Institute is uniquely suited to lead this effort. Knowing the commitment of this results-driven team of researchers, physicians and staff, we are proud to support their outstanding work and engage the community to do the same."
The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.4 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year, including over 53,500 people in Michigan. Cancer remains the second leading cause of death in Michigan, making it the eighth highest ranking state in the United States for cancer incidence and death. In spite of progress made in the cancer fight, the ongoing development of new research and technology is critical in order to treat cancer successfully and save lives.
"This generous gift will leverage additional funding for innovative research at a time when it's needed most," said Ann G. Schwartz, interim president and CEO of the Karmanos Cancer Institute. "We are committed to do all we can to stop this devastating disease. The Herrick Challenge will help us aggressively pursue better treatments and ultimate cures for cancer so that one day we can bring this complex disease under complete control."
In recognition of the $3 million grant, the Karmanos Cancer Institute will name one of the floors in its 60,000 square-foot research facility The Herrick Foundation Cancer Research Floor. The naming celebration will take place in the coming weeks.
To make a contribution to cancer research at Karmanos Cancer Institute that will be matched by the Herrick Foundation, call (313) 576-8102 or go to www.karmanos.org/HerrickChallenge.
Karmanos officials also reported that one of its immunology researchers, Venuprasad K. Poojary, had received a two-year National Institutes of Health Grant of almost $1 million.
Meanwhile, Poojary's grant will further his research into creating more effective immunotherapy strategies for cancer treatment.
Poojary's grant brings the total number of federal stimulus grant dollars received by Karmanos researchers to approximately $8 million this year.
Among the more than 20,000 applications the National Institutes of Health received for the NIH Challenge Grants, Poojary's application ranked within the top 1 percent. He received a grant for $999,094. The NIH has allocated $200 million for the challenge grants for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. They are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 passed in February of this year.
Poojary's research is titled, "Role of TIEG1 in Foxp3+Treg development and tumor progression," and explores tumor pathways that cause effector T cells, those that help maintain a healthy immune system, to be converted to regulator T cells, which allow the growth of cancerous tumor cells.
Researchers have already created vaccines that are effective in controlling regulator T cells in the lab environment, but so far immunotherapy vaccines have not been successful when used on humans.
"Immunotherapy for cancer has not been successful because tumors exploit the immune system," Dr. Poojary said. "We must now build on immunotherapy's great cancer treatment potential by learning how we can make it more effective."
Poojary's research strives to understand on a molecular level how immune suppressor cells can be controlled so that tumor cells do not proliferate. He believes this research will provide him and his colleagues significant new insight to overcome the limitations of current immunotherapy strategies.
"We want to develop inhibitors for regulator T cells to use along with tumor vaccines, and our goal is to block the development of tumor-promoting regulator T cells in the tumor microenvironment," he said. "People have tried to deplete regulator T cells from the body using antibodies, but such an approach is associated with the risk of triggering autoimmunity in patients."
The nearly $1 million NIH grant will allow Poojary and his staff to invest the grant monies in what they need to conduct work more quickly and efficiently. As part of the grant, Poojary will hire four people to assist him. Without the grant, he says this research would have been very difficult.
Poojary says it will be significant when doctors can control the conversion of normal T cells into abnormal cells that allow tumors to grow.
Poojary has been studying immunology since 1998 when he began his doctorate studies at the National Center for Cell Science in Pune, India. After receiving his Ph.D., he served as a postdoctoral fellow and later a research scientist in the Division of Cell Biology at LaJolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in San Diego. He has been with the Karmanos Cancer Institute since March 2009.
The Karmanos Cancer Center is one of 40 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. More at www.karmanos.org.
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