NCI Awards $15 Million to Study Cancer Survivors

National Cancer Institute
Wednesday, 30 September 1998

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has earmarked $15 million over five years for new research into the physical and emotional well-being of cancer survivors who are alive five or more years after diagnosis. This is in addition to $20 million already earmarked by NCI for survivorship-related studies.

Advances in prevention, early detection, and treatment - the payoff from decades of research - all contribute to improved survival rates for most major cancers. As a result, eight million Americans are living with a history of cancer. Recent survivorship milestones:

- The five-year survival rate for children with cancer improved from 65 percent in the early 1980s to 74 percent in the early 1990s.

- The five-year survival rate for all cancers improved from 51 percent in the early 1980s to almost 60 percent in the early 1990s.

- Two million women with breast cancer are alive today.

- One million men are survivors of prostate cancer.

The grants will be made by NCI's Office of Cancer Survivorship (OCS), headed by Anna T. Meadows, M.D. OCS was formed in 1996 to identify important areas of research on survivorship. Workshops in 1996 and 1997 shaped OCS priorities, and in November 1997 the office supplemented existing NCI survivorship research with an additional $4 million over two years. (Co-funding came from the Maryland Chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Public Health Service Office of Women's Health.) A request for applications for new grants on long-term cancer survivor research went out during the summer of 1997.

NCI is funding 13 new survivorship grants; the National Institute on Aging is funding an additional two. The 15 grants listed below were chosen from a pool of 80 applications.

University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, Calif.
Title: Young breast cancer survivors: a population-based cohort
Principal investigator: Joan Bloom, Ph.D.
Term: Sept. 30, 1998 - Sept. 29, 2002
First-year amount: $404,000
Description: This study focuses on the social, emotional, and physical changes experienced by young breast cancer survivors - those diagnosed at age 50 or younger. By using information from a cohort of San Francisco-area survivors, the researchers will also assess the usefulness of workshops offering the latest breast cancer information.

University of California - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif.
Title: Psychological well-being in long-term cancer survivors
Principal investigator: Beth Leedham, Ph.D.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2000
First-year amount: $42,000
Description: Mental health consequences of cancer include depression and anxiety. But no one knows if these problems tend to linger five years or longer after diagnosis. This study will start answering these questions by developing new ways to measure the psychological well-being of cancer survivors.

AMC Cancer Research Center, Denver, Colo.
Title: Quality of life in gynecologic cancer survivors
Principal investigator: Lari Wenzel, Ph.D.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2000
First-year amount: $169,000
Description: Women suffering ovarian and uterine cancer often experience quality-of-life disruptions - like infertility. By looking for ways to improve care for these cancer survivors, this study will hopefully point to strategies for reducing long-term problems caused by these cancers and their treatment.

University of Miami, Miami, Fla.
Title: Quality of life in adult cancer survivors
Principal investigator: Charles Carver, Ph.D.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2003
First-year amount: $324,000
Description: After developing a method to measure quality of life for cancer survivors, researchers will assess Hispanic, White, and African-American survivors of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers and Hodgkin's disease. Another branch of the study will look for psychological or social factors that may predict breast cancer recurrence.

*Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
Title: Well-being in long-term multiethnic cancer survivors
Principal investigator: Carolyn Gotay, Ph.D.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2003
First-year amount: $256,000
Description: This study will track 2,100 Filipino, Hawaiian, Japanese, and White prostate cancer survivors and their partners. Data on overall quality of life and satisfaction with treatment received and its side effects will help the researchers identify what interventions may be needed.

Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, New York, N.Y.
Title: Premature menopause in survivors of childhood cancer
Principal investigator: Charles Sklar, M.D.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2001
First-year amount: $200,000
Description: Girls who survive childhood cancers may experience early menopause and other reproductive problems. Studying a cohort of 5,500 adult female survivors of childhood cancer will help researchers determine what risk factors - such as treatment received and age at treatment - leads to reproductive problems. Understanding these risk factors will help patients and their doctors decide which treatments to pursue.

University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, N.Y.
Title: Cardiac risk factors in pediatric cancer survivors
Principal investigator: Steven Lipschultz, M.D.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2003
First-year amount: $308,000
Description: Children who survive leukemia and other cancers may have an increased risk of heart disease as a side effect of their treatments. By studying childhood cancer survivors from upstate New York, the researchers hope to find out which treatments cause such long-term heart problems and then look for ways to mitigate those risks.

*Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Title: Issues of survivorship among breast cancer survivors
Principal investigator: Electra Paskett, Ph.D.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2001
First-year amount: $122,000
Description: Two million American women are breast cancer survivors, yet little is known about their physical, emotional, social, and economic well-being. After interviewing 400 long-term survivors about their quality of life, the researchers will develop a telephone counseling service.

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Title: Quality of life of older long-term cancer survivors
Principal investigator: Gary Deimling, Ph.D.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2003
First-year amount: $234,000
Description: This study will look at a host of factors contributing to the quality of life of cancer survivors age 60 and older - including physical and emotional well-being - and will point to possible interventions - such as support groups - to improve the overall well-being of these survivors.

Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Ore.
Title: Quality of life following successful therapy for acute myelogenous leukemia
Principal investigator: Henry Nicholson, M.D., M.P.H.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2002
First-year amount: $213,000
Description: This study will measure health problems that may stem from bone marrow transplants in children who survive leukemia. Intervention strategies aimed at improving the quality of life for future transplant recipients will also be developed.

American College of Radiology, Philadelphia, Pa.
Title: Quality of life in survivors of head and neck and prostate cancer
Principal investigator: Charles Scott, Ph.D.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2001
First-year amount: $187,000
Description: More than 4,500 prostate cancer survivors and 2,700 head and neck cancer survivors will contribute to this survey of overall health and functioning. Among other topics, the study will explore survivors' physical, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Title: Mutations induced in human sperm by cancer therapy
Principal investigator: Marvin Meistrich, Ph.D.
Term: Sept. 15, 1998 - Sept. 14, 2000
First-year amount: $57,000
Description: Radiation and chemotherapy often damage sperm cells, perhaps even to the point of causing permanent mutations. By using longitudinal data from men with a variety of cancers, this study will help determine the risk of birth defects the children of men with cancer may face.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Wash.
Title: Enhancing long-term survival after bone marrow transplant
Principal investigator: Karen Syrjala, Ph.D.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 2003
First-year amount: $231,000
Description: Although leukemia patients often receive bone marrow transplants, the long-term effects of such transplants are largely unknown. This study will compare two cohorts: the first received transplants 10 or more years ago; the second transplant group participated in clinical trials aimed at easing transplant recovery. After comparing the groups, the researchers will have better understanding of physical and psychological side effects of bone marrow transplants.

University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, Madison, Wisc.
Title: Quality of life in female colorectal cancer survivors
Principal investigator: Patrick Remington, M.D.
Term: July 1, 1998 - June 30, 1999
First-year amount: $72,000
Description: Do women who survive colorectal cancer benefit from support groups? A survey of several hundred survivors will help answer this question while also providing data for further research on colorectal survivors' quality of life.

Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisc.
Title: Measurable effects in head and neck cancer survivors
Principal investigator: Bruce Campbell, M.D.
Term: June 1, 1998 - May 31, 2001
First-year amount: $230,000
Description: Head and neck cancer survivors often have difficulty talking, swallowing, and performing other day-to-day tasks. Pilot data show survivors who report these symptoms and continued pain also report a fear of recurrence; the researchers would like to look for ways to mitigate this fear.

For more information, or to contact National Cancer Institute, see their website at: www.cancer.gov