I.U. School of Medicine Receives $7.2 Million for Cancer Research

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana University School of Medicine has been awarded a $7.2 million National Cancer Institute (NCI) program grant to support studies in how to increase chemotherapy dosage without damaging normal cells. Drugs used to treat cancers are often considered miracle drugs when they cure the patient of cancer, but the downside of these drugs is the damaging side effect they inflict on the patient’s blood cells and organs.

The grant will support four projects in which the IU scientists and research physicians will determine how to increase the amount of repair protein produced by the cells’ DNA. The IU researchers will insert genes to alter the DNA code of the healthy cells so that they will make more of the protein. They hope this will correct damage done to cells and organs by the drugs used to treat cancers. In parallel studies, they will look at methods that reduce or inhibit DNA repair activity in tumor cells, a significant cause of tumor resistance to chemotherapy and radiation. These efforts will be complemented by gene therapy research trials for patients with lymphomas and brain tumors.

The experience of faculty in the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research in DNA repair, stem cell formation, molecular biology, vector technology, pharmacology and lung biology that secured the NCI grant. This is the fourth program grant awarded to Wells Center investigators since 1991. A gene vector laboratory at IUSM, recently designated as one of three such laboratories funded by the National Institutes of Health, manufactures the synthetic viruses used in gene therapy to transport altered genes.

In addition, Wells Center researchers have recently developed a technology to improve gene transfer using cloned fibronectin, a naturally occurring protein in the body. Fibronectin creates an adhesion between the vectors used to transport genes and the cells into which they’re transporting the genes. Fibronectin is already in adult and pediatric clinical trials at IU.

The effort at IUSM is being led by David Williams, M.D., professor of pediatrics and an investigator in the Wells Center for Pediatric Research and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Project leaders for this grant are Kenneth Cornetta, M.D.; Edward Dropcho, M.D., Xunxiang Du, M.D.; Leonard Erickson, Ph.D.; Mark Kelley M.D.; William Martin, M.D., and Robert Tepper, M.D., Ph.D. Other team members include Philip Breitfeld, M.D., Larry Cripe, M.D., James Croop, M.D.; Regina Jakacki, M.D., and Emanuel Lazarides, Ph.D. They represent the departments of pediatrics, medicine, neurology, medical and molecular genetics, and biochemistry and molecular biology, as well as the Walther Oncology Center.

The NCI program grant will allow IU researchers to continue laying the groundwork for cutting edge advancement in cancer therapy and will provide innovative approaches to childhood cancer treatment in years to come.

Contact: Pamela Perry
317-274-7722
pperry@iupui.edu

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