University of Arizona Cancer Center and the National Foundation for Cancer Research Launch the Center for New Therapies Development

National Foundation for Cancer Research
Friday, 19 April 2002

Partnership to Focus on New Therapies for Pancreatic Cancers

The Arizona Cancer Center at the University of Arizona along with the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) announced today the formation of a new partnership to establish the NFCR Center for New Therapies Development at the Arizona Cancer Center. The new center, to be co-directed by Dr. Daniel Von Hoff, Director of the Arizona Cancer Center and Dr. Laurence Hurley, Howard Schaeffer Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, will focus on pancreatic cancer, the fourth leading cause of death from cancer in the U.S., and brings together some of the leading minds to focus on this devastating disease.

Linking with seven other NFCR research centers around the world, the new Arizona Center will become the flagship research center focused on pancreatic cancer, sharing and collaborating research findings with other research groups. Other partners include the NFCR-funded centers established at Oxford University, Yale University, Penn State University, UC-Berkeley and other international centers in Beijing, China and Berlin, Germany. The goal of the collaborative network is to share information on cancer research and collaborate on research and drug development.

"The new center at the University of Arizona Cancer Center is a step forward in a collaborative partnership that constitutes our 'Laboratory without Walls'", said Dr. Sujuan Ba, science director for the National Foundation for Cancer Research. "By linking this new NFCR center at Arizona Cancer Center with our other centers, we hope to create great synergies and multiple possibilities and accelerate our goal of curing cancer."

Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of death from cancer in the U.S., and the survival rate is the worst among malignancy. The development of a treatment for pancreatic cancer is imperative and involves multiple complex steps. Before a drug can be designed to fight pancreatic cancer cells, first one has to know the molecules that are responsible for changing a normal cell to cancer cells. Utilizing the cutting-edge technology "Microarray" and RT-PCR, Dr. Von Hoff's group discovered a potential drug target, the aurora kinase-2. Under normal circumstances, this molecule ensures each divided daughter cell receives the full complement of genetic materials from their mother cell. However, if the gene that encodes this molecule is over-expressed, the daughter cells will get either less or more of the genetic materials from the parent cell. This can lead to cancer, particularly pancreatic cancer. Recently, researchers in Dr. Von Hoff's laboratory further validated the aurora kinase-2 as the molecular target for pancreatic cancer with the "antisense" technology. A 3-D homology model of aurora kinase has been developed to design inhibitors that can act on the aurora kinase-2 target and inhibit the growth of pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Daniel Von Hoff (Arizona Cancer Center, University of Arizona) and Dr. Laurence Hurley (Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Arizona) have been named co-directors of the new center. Dr. Von Hoff has been widely credited for his translational research into anticancer agents, particularly those associated with the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Having been instrumental in the discovery of the anti-pancreatic cancer agent, gemcitabine, he and his colleagues are concentrating on the development of molecularly targeted therapies, with particular focus on pancreatic cancer. Dr. Hurley's research has focused on targeting protein-DNA complexes to control oncogene expression. His work on DNA as a target for drug action has been widely noted and places him among the leaders on design of new therapeutics to fight cancer.

"This new partnership is a crucial step towards unraveling one of cancer's more difficult challenges," said Dr. Von Hoff. "We believe in the value of exploring every avenue in our quest to cure cancer and with this partnership between NFCR and the Arizona Cancer Center, we hope that in the near future a cure for the devastating pancreatic cancer can be available.

About the NFCR

Since its founding in 1973, the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) has provided more than $180 million to fund research focused on understanding how and why cells become cancerous. This worldwide "laboratory without walls" assembles the intellectual power to achieve one of medicine's greatest goals: the end of cancer. It is believed that prevention, treatment, and cure depend on understanding cancer's genetic origins and environmental influences as well as the "individual" nature of the disease. NFCR's research discoveries are now on the threshold of being translated into therapies and potential cures for cancer patients.

For more information, please visit them on the web at www.NFCR.org or call (800) 321-CURE.

For more information, or to contact National Foundation for Cancer Research, see their website at: www.researchforacure.com