NEWS

CANCER RESEARCH OFFERS HOPE FOR A CURE

2009-10-05 09:15:46

Nearly one-fourth of all deaths in the U.S. result from some form of cancer, surpassed only by heart disease.

In 2009, 292,540 men and 269,800 women died from cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. It is very likely that you or someone close to you will be affected by cancer in your lifetime.

In Central Texas, the Scott & White Cancer Research Institute, directed by Dr. Arthur Frankel, houses a 23-member staff devoted to finding a cure for cancer.

Frankel said that a new agent is currently being developed for treating solid tumor metastasis, where cancer spreads through the body.

"These patients have limited options with chemo therapy and limited time," Frankel said. "The institute is committed to developing new treatments for hope when standard therapies are ineffective."

The Robert S. Love Foundation donated $62,000 to the project last year and has committed to a second year of funding to support the development of this treatment.

Frankel extends an open invitation to members of the public to see how their donations are being used to transform cancer from a fatal disease into a chronic ailment.

"Cancer is one of those diseases that if you think it is cured, it may rear its ugly head again," cancer survivor Linda Chupik said.

Chupik was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. She said the diagnosis came as a shock because for her entire life, she had never had more than a cold and she felt fine. Throughout her treatments and surgery, she was most impacted by the fact that those who were treating her had hope.

"I want to keep hope going," she said. "We keep hope going through answers and keep answers going through research."

Chupik is a marriage and family counselor with Chupik and Associates Counseling in Killeen and Temple. She is a board member for the Robert S. Love Foundation. The purpose of the foundation is to raise money to support cancer research.

"Every cent we raise stays in Central Texas," Chupik said. "We are raising hope for our neighbors and ourselves."

Robert S. Love was a man who touched many lives through his valiant battle with liposarcoma. He was diagnosed in 1994 and died in 2002. The foundation was established in memory of his courage and faith and is dedicated to the support of cancer research, according to the foundation's Web site.

Chuck Lucko, founder and president of the foundation and a cancer survivor, said that he and Love attended Temple High School together. They reconnected years later and worked together at Lucko's surveying company, All County Surveying.

Lucko was diagnosed and treated for testicular cancer in 1996, only to have the disease recur six months later.

"I was sick and on chemo when he (Love) was in between surgeries, "Lucko said. "It was a bad time for me and a good time for him. It brought us together."

Last year, the foundation raised more than $120,000 to support hope for a cure and look for the answers to keep hope alive, Lucko said.

"(Being a cancer survivor) is humbling and does tell us all that we are temporary and that life is fragile," Lucko said. "We need to treat people the way we want to be treated. And we need to appreciate every minute."

Posted On: Monday, Sep. 28 2009 04:35 AM By Rebecca Hertz
Killeen Daily Herald

Contact Rebecca Hertz at rhertz@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7469.

LOVE CURES EVENTS RAISE MONEY LOCALLY FOR CANCER RESEARCH

2009-10-05 09:01:03

Robert S. Love's life influenced others and his friends are making sure his death from cancer leaves an impression as well.
Love was diagnosed with liposarcoma in 1994 and died in 2002. During those years, Love underwent nine surgeries. Liposarcoma is a malignant tumor that arises in fat cells in deep soft tissue, such as inside the thigh.

Remembering Love's courage, faith and love of his family during his illness, those who knew him established the Robert S. Love Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cancer and supporting Scott & White cancer programs.

"Robert was such a shining example of those who struggled with and battled cancer, but he's not alone," said Chuck Lucko, Robert S. Love Foundation board president.
Last year, the foundation raised $60,000, which was donated to the Scott & White Cancer Research Institute.

The funds from all the foundation's Love Cures events stays local and money raised this year will again go to the Cancer Research Institute.

"Unlike other foundations where money goes everywhere, this money all stays here," said Linda Chupik, Robert S. Love Foundation board member. "That's one of the things that really sold me on being on their board. I feel like it's helping people here."
Lucko and Chupik are both cancer survivors.

"Research helped save Linda's and my lives, but unfortunately for my friend Robert, there hadn't been enough science in the arena of his type of cancer to save him," Lucko said.
Since Love Cures funds went to the Cancer Research Institute, Dr. Art Frankel, executive director of the institute, wanted the group to have its own project.

"I thought it was important to provide a project they could follow," Frankel said.

Randall Alfano, a Ph.D. candidate, is in charge of preclinical development of the new agent being funded by Love Cures.
Alfano is developing a human monoclonal antibody that blocks signaling present in some cancers, including sarcomas and some breast cancers.

Some tumors produce hormones that come out of the tumor and then bind on to the same cell, supplying stimulation that activates the tumor. The antibody being developed with Love Cures funds will block that signaling.

"This type of agent should be safe," Frankel said. "We're hopeful that this blocking of the signaling by the antibody will produce remission without side effects."

With continued funding, this project can be ongoing and the community can watch as this new cancer-fighting agent evolves.
"We believe strongly at the Cancer Research Institute in trying to rapidly move things from design to patient," he said.

Frankel said the institute will give a report on the status of the research at the Love Cures banquet on Oct. 30. If the research results in a drug that can be marketed, the foundation will benefit financially.

There were several possibilities for research projects using Love Cures funds, Frankel said, but the institute wanted to work on a project that had ties to Robert S. Love, and since he died from sarcoma this study seemed to fit best.
"The family was interested in having something that provided a legacy," he said.

Frankel, director of the division of hematology and oncology at Scott & White, said as a physician he wants his patients to have hope. No cancers are 100 percent curable and those who have been treated for cancer always have a sense of doubt in the back of their mind, he said.

Temple and Scott & White have made a commitment to cancer research and treatment and Lucko said he would like Love Cures and its supporters to eventually grow into a force for economic development.
"That's our future in Temple," he said. "It's the perfect fit to become our economic engine."

The medical research going on throughout Temple - at the VA, Texas A&M College of Medicine, Scott & White and its West Campus - remains a mystery to many. If Love Cures can bring recognition to the caliber of research taking place here, it will have accomplished a lot, Lucko said.

Copyright © 2009, Temple Daily Telegram
by Janice Gibbs
Published September 22, 2009

SCOTT & WHITE LAUNCHES ONE-OF-A-KIND RESEARCH TRIAL FOR CANCER AGENT

2009-04-23 15:54:13

TEMPLE, TEXAS (June 25, 2008) — Scott & White’s Cancer Research Institute (CRI) announced the launch of the first clinical trials on humans of an agent that targets Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma.

While rare, Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma nevertheless afflicts some 6,000 Americans each year.

This study of the agent called A-dmDT390-bisFV is aimed at those patients who have not responded to existing treatments,” said Art Frankel, M.D. and director of Scott & White’s Cancer Research Institute. “Our research focuses on a niche for rare disease that no one else is going after.”

The Phase I Clinical trial seeks to determine the highest dose and the best way to administer this investigational agent without serious side effects. An investigational agent is one that has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“While there is no guarantee that the subject in a trial will be cured, there is every reason to believe they could help themselves, and undoubtedly down the road they will help others with the same disease.”

In addition, if the agent proves effective, Frankel believes it may extend to the treatment of diabetes, multiple sclerosis and Lupus.

Clinical trials are critical to the development of new drugs, involving years of research and testing before the drugs, or agents, can be used in humans.

Frankel, a pioneer in the use of deadly bacterial toxins to kill specific cancer molecules, says the drug works like a missile that will only hit its intended target. “It attaches and explodes into the T-Cell,” says Frankel. The “bomb” is a toxic mixture containing diphtheria, which was re-engineered by Frankel and his team to kill only the tumor.

The fact that Scott & White’s relatively new Cancer Research Institute was chosen to test the A-dmDT390-bisFV fusion protein is significant.

“The Scott & White CRI is unique because the clinicians who run new drug trials work together under the same roof with the scientists who developed the drug and tested the drug for FDA approval,” says David M. Neville, Jr., M.D. Chief, Section on Biophysical Chemistry, Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the National Institute of Mental Health, and who commissioned Scott & White to develop and test.

Scott & White’s ability to take a drug from the bench, or laboratory to the bedside, or patient, is a boon to cancer treatment, he said.

“The constant interplay between scientists and clinicians leads to better trial designs and the flexibility to suggest alterations in trial protocols before trial completion, benefiting both patients and researchers” said Neville.

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For more information on enrolling in this clinical trial, contact Katherine Schueller, Clinical Trials Marketing Manager at 512.672.9168

The Cancer Research Institute at Scott & White was established in 2005 to bring new cancer-fighting therapies from the laboratory bench to the patient’s bedside in less time than it takes using traditional processes. The institute is housed in 17,000 square feet within Temple’s Health and Bioscience District, and includes laboratories and a Good Manufacturing Practices drug manufacturing facility. The 37 scientists who comprise the CRI staff are devoted to finding effective therapies for various and rare forms of cancer quickly and cost-effectively.