Mayo Clinic Cancer Center receives SPORE grant for brain cancer researc...( nteractive and complementary. In additi...),Health

Project 1 will focus on understanding the mechanisms by which tumor cells are killed using radiation and drugs that inhibit a protein that drives tumor growth and aggressiveness in gliomas. It will utilize a unique animal model of glioma, one that replicates the human condition and thus provides the most appropriate model for developing treatment and prevention strategies. Mayo researchers will then coordinate a clinical trial based on this research.

Project 2 will deliver a modified measles virus directly into the tumor to kill cancer cells without harming normal cells. This project exploits unique viral gene therapy developed in Mayo's Molecular Medicine program. Mayo research teams will conduct a clinical trial testing the effectiveness of this treatment on adult gliomas.

Project 3 will study a protein that brain cancers use to invade surrounding tissue so that researchers can attempt to design treatments that inhibit invasion. In conjunction with Mayo's drug discovery research efforts, Project 3's researchers have identified a "short list" of small molecules that inhibit this protein. The SPORE grant will facilitate the translation of this discovery into a clinical trial.

Project 4 will explore the genetic basis of brain tumors, building on previous Mayo discoveries about the genetics of oligodendrogliomas, a common adult glioma. In this project Mayo researchers hope to determine whether a better understanding of oligodendroglioma genetics can help predict a specific tumor's response to treatment.

The NCI established the SPORE program in 1992 to promote interdisciplinary research and speed the transition of basic research findings from the laboratory to applied settings invo
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6-Jan-2005