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Monthly news bulletin for UCSD Faculty and Staff
October 12, 2009
Moores UCSD Cancer Center Receives $6 Million NIH Contract to Identify Vaccine-Enhancing Substances
Researchers at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have received $6 million from the National Institutes of Health to spend the next five years looking for, testing and developing chemicals called “adjuvants” that they hope will make current vaccines more effective.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH, has awarded approximately $60 million over five years to six institutions in the United States, with the goal of identifying and characterizing novel adjuvants – substances that can be added to vaccines to enhance the protective immune response they induce. These compounds will be tested in animal models and human cells to determine how well they stimulate immune responses. (more)

September 29, 2009
Innovative Statewide UC Medical Center Collaboration Targets Breast Cancer
The Moores UCSD Cancer Center is participating in an unprecedented statewide University of California collaboration to improve care for breast cancer patients by designing and testing new approaches to research, technology and health care delivery.

Named the ATHENA Breast Health Network, the groundbreaking project will initially involve 150,000 women throughout California who will be screened for breast cancer and followed for decades through the five UC medical centers. ATHENA is a University of California system-wide project supported by a $5.3 million University of California grant, and by a $4.8 million grant from the Safeway Foundation. (more)

September 2, 2009
Malignant Signature May Help Identify Patients Likely to Respond to Therapy
A molecular “signature” that helps account for the aggressive behavior of a variety of cancers such as pancreatic, breast and melanoma may also predict the likelihood of successful treatment with a particular anti-cancer drug. The finding, which could lead to a personalized approach to treatment for a variety of solid tumors that are currently resistant to therapies, will be published September 6 in the advance online edition of Nature Medicine. (more)

August 13, 2009
Urologic Oncologist Kellogg Parsons, MD, Recognized as Health Leader

Kellogg Parsons, MD, urologic oncologist at UC San Diego Medical Center and Moores UCSD Cancer Center, has recently received multiple recognitions for his leadership in the field of urology and cancer care. He has been appointed to the prestigious American Urological Association (AUA) Practice Guidelines Committee. Reaching a global community of physicians, the committee recommends specific indications, guidelines and practice parameters for diagnosis and treatment of urological diseases, outlining appropriate procedures for care. Parsons is currently their youngest member. (more)

August 11, 2009
New Radiation Oncology Building Adds Clinic Space, Technology to Moores Cancer Center
The Moores UCSD Cancer Center and the UC San Diego Medical Center have opened a new radiation oncology building on the La Jolla medical center campus that expands clinic and office space, while adding to the program's advanced imaging and treatment technologies. It also offers technology to make radiation therapy more readily available for children who need it.

The new, 16,000 sq. ft., $20 million-Radiation Oncology PET/CT Center includes two new treatment vaults with state-of-the-art linear accelerators that expand the department's patient treatment capabilities, in addition to a linear accelerator used for research. (more)

August 6, 2009
Researchers Uncover Potential Mechanisms to Protect Against Genetic Alterations, Diseases
Peering into the DNA of tiny yeast, researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego and the San Diego Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have pinpointed a large number of genes that can prevent a type of genetic rearrangement that may lead to cancer and other diseases.

The presence of these genes and their accompanying pathways, many of which are involved in repairing mistakes in DNA replication, may help explain how the body fends off so many potentially damaging genetic alterations while maintaining its stability. (more)

Breast Center at Moores UCSD Cancer Center Receives National Accreditation
The Breast Center at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center has received accreditation from the National Accreditation Program of Breast Centers (NAPBC), a program administered by the American College of Surgeons. The Breast Center at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center is the first hospital-based program in California to receive this accreditation. (more)

July 7, 2009
Researchers Testing Virus-Gene Therapy Combination Against Melanoma
Researchers at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center are injecting a modified herpes virus into melanoma tumors, hoping to kill the cancer cells while also bolstering the body's immune defenses against the disease.

Gregory Daniels, MD, PhD, assistant clinical professor of medicine at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and his co-workers are comparing the modified virus treatment, called OncoVEX GM-CSF, to general immune system stimulation with the immune-boosting protein GM-CSF in an international phase III trial for patients with advanced melanoma. The Moores UCSD Cancer Center is the only site in San Diego for the clinical trial. (more)

June 24, 2009
Surgeon Anne Wallace, MD, Honored by YWCA for Accomplishments, Leadership
Surgeon Anne Wallace, MD, professor of clinical surgery at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, is a 2009 recipient of the prestigious San Diego YWCA Tribute to Women & Industry (TWIN) Award. The award recognizes women for their outstanding achievement, leadership and contributions to their organizations. (more)

May 29, 2009
Study May Aid Efforts to Prevent Uncontrolled Cell Division in Cancer
Researchers from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of California , San Diego School of Medicine have uncovered a remarkable property of the contractile ring, a structure required for cell division. Understanding how the contractile ring works to divide the cell may facilitate development of therapies to prevent uncontrolled cell division in cancer. (more)

May 18, 2009
The Future of Personalized Cancer Treatment: An Entirely New Direction for RNAi Delivery
In technology that promises to one day allow drug delivery to be tailored to an individual patient and a particular cancer tumor, researchers at the University of California , San Diego School of Medicine, have developed an efficient system for delivering siRNA, which interferes with gene expression, into primary cells. The work will be published in the May 17 in the advance on-line edition of Nature Biotechnology. (more)

May 14, 2009
Immunotherapy Effective Against Neuroblastoma in Children
New therapy improves chances of living disease-free with difficult-to-treat childhood cancer
A phase III study has shown that adding an antibody-based therapy that harnesses the body's immune system resulted in a 20 percent increase in the number of children living disease-free for at least two years with neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma, a hard-to-treat cancer arising from nervous system cells, is responsible for 15 percent of cancer-related deaths in children. The researchers reported their findings – the first to show that immunotherapy could be effective against childhood cancer – online May 14, 2009 on the American Society of Clinical Oncology website in advance of presentation June 2. ( more)

May 13, 2009
$1 Million to Help UC San Diego Recruit Outstanding Scholars
Ilse Warschawski has left more than $1 million in her trust to the University of California , San Diego , in honor of her late husband and founder of the university's department of mathematics, Stefan (Steve) Warschawski. According to Ilse's wishes, the gift is split between the department of mathematics and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center . (more)

May 12, 2009
Moores UCSD Cancer Center Offers Radiation Therapy in Encinitas Facility
The Department of Radiation Oncology at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center and the UC San Diego Medical Center have opened a satellite facility in Encinitas, offering the same types of radiation therapy services and similar opportunities for participation in clinical trials that are provided at the UC San Diego's La Jolla campus. (more)

May 7, 2009
New Technique May Help Detect Potential Breast Cancer Spread
A new phase III clinical trial of early stage breast cancer patients has shown that a molecule designed to home in on nearby lymph nodes is just as accurate as current techniques while being faster, more specific and easier to use.

“These results will really enable molecular biology to enter the operating room for lymph node detection,” said breast surgeon Anne Wallace, MD, professor of clinical surgery at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, and one of the study leaders. Wallace described her team's results May 7, 2009 at the 3rd International Symposium on Cancer Metastasis and the Lymphovascular System in San Francisco. (more)

May 7, 2009
Expression of Infrared Fluorescence Engineered in Mammals
Research led by Nobel Prize winner Roger Tsien may provide prototype for future studies in animal models

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego – led by 2008 Nobel-Prize winner Roger Tsien, PhD – have shown that bacterial proteins called phytochromes can be engineered into infrared-fluorescent proteins (IFPs). Because the wavelength of IFPs is able to penetrate tissue, these proteins are suitable for whole-body imaging in small animals. Their findings will be published in the May 8 edition of the journal Science.

“The development of IFPs may be important for future animal studies to find out how cancers develop, how infections grow or diminish in mice, or perhaps how neurons are firing in flies,” said Tsien, professor of pharmacology, chemistry and biochemistry at UC San Diego and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. (more)

May 4, 2009
May 3rd Triathlon to Benefit Cancer Research at Moores UCSD Cancer Center
A triathlon aimed at raising money for cancer research at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center will be held Sunday, May 3, 2009, at South Shores Park on Mission Bay, beginning at 7 a.m. Now in its second year, the Spring Sprint Triathlon and Duathlon, the first multi-sport event of the season in San Diego, is for competitors at all levels. (more)

April 23, 2009
Radiation Device in the Breast Reduces Complications for Early-Stage Breast Cancer Patients
A new study shows that the SAVI™ applicator, a small, expandable device inserted inside the breast to deliver partial breast irradiation, carries a low infection risk, a potential complication of such devices. The research, led by radiation oncologists and surgeons at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center and Fort Myers, Florida-based 21^st Century Oncology, also indicates that other complications – such as persistent, symptomatic seromas, pockets of fluid that build with the use of internal radiation devices – may be less likely to occur than with other devices. (more)

April 22, 2009
Instead of Fighting Breast Cancer, Immune Cell Promotes Its Spread
Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have new evidence that a type of immune system cell thought to be part of the first line of defense against breast cancer may also help promote its spread. They have found that when these cells, known as lymphocytes, make an inflammatory protein called RANKL (RANK ligand), breast cancer is more likely to spread to the lungs. (more)

April 19, 2009
New Biomarker May Predict Leukemia Aggressiveness
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have evidence of a potential new biomarker to predict the aggressiveness of an often difficult-to-treat form of leukemia. They found that high levels of a particular enzyme in the blood are an indicator that chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) – the most common form of adult leukemia – will be aggressive and in need of immediate treatment. (more)

April 13, 2009
Reversing Effects of Altered Enzyme May Fight Brain Tumor Growth
An international team of scientists from the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, the University of North Carolina and several institutions in China have explained how a gene alteration can lead to the development of a type of brain cancer, and they have identified a compound that could staunch the cancer's growth. (more)

April 1, 2009
Georgia Robins Sadler, PhD, MBA Receives Cancer Education Award
Pioneering cancer public health and community advocate Georgia Robins Sadler, PhD, MBA, was recently awarded the Margaret Hay Edwards Achievement Medal from the American Association for Cancer Education (AACE) for her outstanding contributions to cancer education. Sadler is clinical professor of surgery at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and an associate director of the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, where she leads the Cancer Center's community outreach programs. Sadler is also the immediate past president of the California chapter of the American Cancer Society. (more) February 17, 2009
Scientists Uncover Indicator that Warns Leukemia is Progressing to More Dangerous Form
Scientists at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, Stanford University School of Medicine and other centers have identified a mechanism by which a chronic form of leukemia can progress into a deadlier stage of the disease. The findings may provide physicians with an indicator of when this type of cancer – chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) – is progressing, enabling them to make more accurate prognoses for the disease and improved treatment choices. (more)

February 11, 2009
New Imaging Center to Help Make Better Diagnoses, Evaluate Drug Effectiveness
Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego are taking advantage of a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and sophisticated imaging technologies at the newly established In Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center (ICMIC) – one of only eight in the country – to develop new ways to detect early cancers that require treatment and monitor the effectiveness of new molecular-based cancer therapies. (more)

February 9, 2009
Cervix Moves Significantly More Than Previously Thought During Radiation for Cancer
Radiation and gynecologic oncologists at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego are concerned that many women with cervical cancer may not be receiving the optimal dose of radiation during treatments specific for the shape of the tumor because the cervix may be moving too much. They recommend that radiation oncologists need to take such movement into account to make sure the cervix remains in the treatment field. (more)

February 9, 2009
Surgeons Remove Cancerous Kidney with Single Incision, California First
On Thursday, February 5, 2009, surgeons at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center removed a patient's diseased kidney through one incision hidden in the belly button. No other incisions were used. This groundbreaking procedure is the 15th in a series of single-incision clinical trial surgeries performed by the UC San Diego Center for the Future of Surgery. (more)

February 3, 2009
UC San Diego Medical Center First Hospital in Region to Offer
Microwave Technology to Destroy Liver Tumors
A new minimally-invasive option for treating liver tumors, called microwave ablation, is now available at UC San Diego Medical Center and Moores UCSD Cancer Center, the only hospitals in the region to offer this technology to patients. “A liver tumor can be removed in many ways,” said Marquis Hart, MD, transplant surgeon at UC San Diego Medical Center. “Now, patients at UC San Diego have a new option called ‘microwave ablation.' Simply put, we zap and destroy liver tumors with heat derived from microwave energy. This is an important alternative, especially since the majority of liver cancers cannot be partially removed and not all patients are transplant candidates.” (more)

February 2, 2009
Two Immune-System Proteins Linked to Colitis-Associated Cancer
Recent research from the laboratory of Michael Karin, PhD, at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine – the first researcher to demonstrate a molecular link between inflammation and cancer – has identified two potential targets for the prevention and treatment of colitis-associated cancer (CAC), the most serious complication of inflammatory bowel disease. (more)

January 30, 2009
Automated Screening Process May Eventually Reduce Additional Breast Cancer Surgeries
A team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have developed a rapid, automated image screening process to distinguish breast cancer cells from normal cells. The technique, which is based on the density of cells seen on a microscope slide, may eventually lead to better ways for surgeons to determine if they have removed all of the cancer during breast-conserving cancer surgery and cut down on the number of needed second operations. (more)

January 7, 2009
Novel Prostate Cancer Vaccine Taking Aim at Cancer Cell “Sweet Spot”
Molecules of sugar sitting on the surface of cancer cells are keys to the development of a new vaccine aimed at both treating and stopping the spread of certain types of cancers called carcinomas, which include prostate, breast, ovarian and lung, among others. (more)

December 31, 2008
Lung Cancer Cells Activate Inflammation to Induce Metastasis
A research team from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center has identified a protein produced by cancerous lung epithelial cells that enhances metastasis by stimulating the activity of inflammatory cells. Their findings, to be published in the January 1 issue of the journal Nature, explain how advanced cancer cells usurp components of the host innate immune system to generate an inflammatory microenvironment hospitable for the metastatic spread of lung cancer. The discovery could lead to a therapy to limit metastasis of this most common lethal form of cancer. (more)

December 16, 2008
Cancer Disparities Are Target of $15 Million Grant to UC San Diego, San Diego State University
San Diego State University (SDSU) and the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) are joining forces to help explain and eliminate cancer disparities. The five-year combined $15 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health will fund research, education and community outreach programs in the San Diego region with the goal of reducing differences in cancer incidence and deaths in the population. (more)

December 15, 2008
A Diet High in Vegetables, Fruit and Fiber May Cut Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence in Women Without Hot Flashes
A secondary analysis of a large, multicenter clinical trial has shown that a diet loaded with fruits, vegetables and fiber and somewhat lower in fat compared to standard federal dietary recommendations cuts the risk of recurrence in a subgroup of early-stage breast cancer survivors – women who didn't have hot flashes – by approximately 31 percent. These patients typically have higher recurrence and lower survival rates than breast cancer patients who have hot flashes. (more)

December 8, 2008
Interactive Gene “Networks” May Predict if Leukemia is Aggressive or Slow-Growing
Rather than testing for individual marker genes or proteins, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have evidence that groups, or networks, of interactive genes may be more reliable in determining the likelihood that a form of leukemia is fast-moving or slow-growing. (more)

November 24, 2008
UCSD Researchers Identify Potential New Drug Target for Chronic Leukemia
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have discovered what could be a novel drug target for an often difficult-to-treat form of leukemia. The investigators have identified a unique “signature” or pattern of a specific family of enzymes in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common form of adult leukemia. (more)

November 9, 2008
Anti-Angiogenesis Drugs May Foil Tumors by Building Up Blood Vessels, Not Tearing Them Down, Moores UCSD Cancer Center Scientists Find
Scientists have thought that one way to foil a tumor from generating blood vessels to feed its growth – a process called angiogenesis – was by creating drugs aimed at stopping a key vessel growth-promoting protein. But now the opposite seems to be true.

Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in La Jolla have found evidence that blocking that protein target, called VEGF, or vascular endothelial growth factor, doesn't really halt the process at all. Instead, cutting levels of VEGF in a tumor actually props up existing blood vessels, making them stronger and more normal, and in some cases the tumors larger. But as a result, the tumor is more vulnerable to the effects of chemotherapy drugs. (more)

November 3, 2008
Moores UCSD Cancer Center Studying Novel Leukemia Vaccine for High-Risk Patients
Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) are conducting clinical trials of a novel therapy aimed at revving up the immune system to combat a particularly difficult-to-treat form of leukemia.

The experimental therapy is being offered to patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) whose cancer did not respond or was resistant to initial treatment or harbors a particular chromosomal abnormality called a 17p deletion. In most of these cases, the cancer has failed to respond to further conventional therapy. (more)

October 8, 2008
Novel Lung Cancer Vaccine Trial Launched at Moores UCSD Cancer Center
Oncologists at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in La Jolla are hoping to stave off the relentless march of advanced lung cancer by treating patients with a novel kind of cancer vaccine. While many vaccines attempt to pump up the immune system to fight off a cancer, the new vaccine, Lucanix, is genetically engineered to also trick the cancer into turning off its immune system-suppressing activities. (more)

October 6, 2008
Moores UCSD Cancer Center Researchers Receive $1.14 Million from Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
Four cancer researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) have received a total of $1.14 million from Susan G. Komen for the Cure® to study the nature, development and spread of breast cancer. These are the organization's only research and training awards given to scientists in San Diego for 2008. (more)

September 24, 2008
Study Shows Radiation Device May Customize Therapy, Enable Some to Avoid More Lengthy Treatment
A study of the first approximately 100 patients who have received partial breast irradiation with a small, whisk-like, expandable device inserted inside the breast has shown that after one year, the device is effective at sparing nearby healthy tissue from the effects of radiation. The device, called SAVI™, is aimed at providing customized radiation therapy while minimizing exposure to healthy tissue around the breast after a woman has received a lumpectomy for early stage cancer. (more)

August 27, 2008
Variation of Normal Protein Could Be
Key to Resistance to Common Cancer Drug
Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in La Jolla have found evidence explaining why a common chemotherapy drug, cisplatin, may not always work for every cancer patient. They have shown that when a variant version of a key protein that normally causes cell death is active, patients may be resistant to the cancer-killing drug. (more)

July 7, 2008
“Smart Bomb” Nanoparticle Strategy Impacts Metastasis
A new treatment strategy using molecular “smart bombs” to target metastasis with anti-cancer drugs leads to good results using significantly lower doses of toxic chemotherapy, with less collateral damage to surrounding tissue, according to a collaborative team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego. By designing a “nanoparticle” drug delivery system, the UC San Diego team, led by Moores UCSD Cancer Center Director of Translational Research David Cheresh, Ph.D., has identified a way to target chemotherapy to achieve a profound impact on metastasis in pancreatic and kidney cancer in mice. (more)

June 30, 2008
Smoke-Free Policies Very Effective in Reducing Health Hazards Moores Cancer Center Researcher Leads International Team
Research reviewed by an international team of experts called together by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that smoke-free policies are “extremely effective” in reducing the health hazards of smoking. The findings, published online and in the July edition of The Lancet Oncology, are the latest in a series of reviews and evaluations from the IARC’s Tobacco and Cancer Team. This team was led by John Pierce, Ph.D., Director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego, and María León, DrPH, M.P.H., Tobacco and Cancer Team, Lifestyle, Environment and Cancer Group, IARC, Lyon, France. (more)

June 27, 2008
CIRM Grants Awarded to Support Research by
Moores Cancer Center Researchers
Adding to the more than $19.8 million in funding that researchers at the University of California, San Diego have received to date from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), three grants were awarded today to the university's Moores Cancer Center researchers to fund new approaches to generating stem cell lines from human skin, and to fighting leukemia and Alzheimer's disease. (more)

June 10, 2008
Anti-estrogen Drug Therapy Reduces Risk of Invasive Breast Cancer in Older Women UC San Diego Researchers Lead International Effort
New analysis of a drug approved for osteoporosis prevention and treatment has provided definitive evidence that the medication is also effective as a breast cancer preventative for certain cancers. Women who took the drug raloxifene were less likely to develop invasive, estrogen-receptor (ER) positive breast cancer compared with women who did not take the drug. The results of the randomized controlled trial are published in the June 10 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. (more)

June 5, 2008
Moores UCSD Cancer Center
Study Links Vitamin D, Type 1 Diabetes
Global View Supports Concept of Using Vitamin D in Reducing Disease Risks
Sun exposure and vitamin D levels may play a strong role in risk of type 1 diabetes in children, according to new findings by researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. This association comes on the heels of similar research findings by this same group regarding vitamin D levels and several major cancers.(more)

Andrew M. Lowy, M.D., F.A.C.S.

May 21, 2008
Relief from Liver Disease with Minimally Invasive Surgery
At 66, Donald Fuhrman, a retired real estate broker and investor, looked like many men his age: enjoying world travel and in good health with just slightly high cholesterol. But appearances can be deceiving. A liver biopsy that showed that Fuhrman had a rare form of cancer that rapidly progresses to lethal stages. Through an advanced minimally-invasive procedure called laparoscopy, Andrew M. Lowy, M.D., chief of surgical oncology at Moores UCSD Cancer Center, completely removed the cancerous tumor without the need for a large 8-12 inch incision.
(more)

May 15, 2008
Global View Shows Link
Between Vitamin D Status, Breast Cancer
Using newly available data on worldwide cancer incidence, researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine have shown a clear association between deficiency in exposure to sunlight, specifically ultraviolet B (UVB), and breast cancer. (more)

April 12, 2008
Annual Celebrity Chefs Cook Gala Nets $600,000
for Groundbreaking Research and Physician Recruitment
at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center
More than 400 guests gathered recently at the 27th annual Celebrity Chefs Cook Gala, netting over $600,000 to support pioneering research at the nationally renowned Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center. The gala's Italian theme “Bella Notte,” or, “beautiful night,” set the tone for the evening. (more)

April 07, 2008
From Bench to Bedside in One Year: Stem Cell Research
Leads to Potential New Therapy for Rare Blood Disorder
A unique partnership between industry and academia has led to human clinical trials of a new drug for a rare class of blood diseases called myeloproliferative disorders (MPD), which are all driven by the same genetic mutation and can evolve into leukemia. In just one year, collaborative discoveries by stem cell researchers from the University of California, San Diego, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Mayo Clinic and a San Diego pharmaceutical company, TargeGen, moved from identification of the most promising drug candidate to clinical trials for a new drug to fight this degenerative blood disorder, which affects more than 100,000 Americans. (more)

February 11, 2008
UCSD Research Team Identifies Novel Anti-Cancer Drug from the Sea
A collaborative team of researchers spearheaded by Dennis Carson M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has identified a potent new anti-cancer drug isolated from a toxic blue-green algae found in the South Pacific. The properties of somocystinamide A (ScA) are described in a paper that will be published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science the week of February 11-15. (more)

February 11, 2008
Gene Therapy Activates Immune System in Patients with Leukemia
A research team at the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) reports that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who were treated with a gene therapy protocol began making antibodies that reacted against their own leukemia cells. The study will be published on line the week of February 11-15 in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. (more)

January 29, 2008
Institute of Medicine Report Highlights
UCSD Cancer Center Program
Cancer care today can save and prolong many lives, but often fails to address the psychological and social problems associated with the illness. A recently released report by the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) proposes a new standard of care and showcases an innovative program at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) called “Patient and Family Support Services: The Science of Caring.” (more)

January 28, 2008
City of Hope Gives von Gunten Humanitarian Award
Charles von Gunten, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSD, is the 2007 recipient of the Sarnat Distinguished Humanitarian Award, given by the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in recognition of outstanding scientific and humanitarian achievement in hospice and palliative care. (more)

January 02, 2008
UCSD Researchers Find Young Adults More Likely to Quit Smoking Successfully
Young adults are more likely than older adults to quit smoking successfully, partly because they are more likely to make a serious effort to quit, say researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego. The study, “Smoking Cessation Rates in the United States: A Comparison of Young Adult and Older Smokers,” published in the Jan. 2, 2008 American Journal of Public Health also found that young adults, aged 18 to 24, are more likely to have tried to quit smoking than older adults, aged 50 to 64. (more)

December 04, 2007
UCSD Launches Vaccine Trial for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have failed chemotherapy or have chosen to forego chemotherapy have an opportunity to participate in a new clinical trial for a CLL vaccine being conducted at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

Study participants will receive Memgen's ISF35, an immune therapy product, or vaccine. Based on the results of previous studies, ISF35 has the potential to stimulate the immune system to act against CLL cells and fight them naturally. Memgen, a biomedical company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, licensed the technology for the ISF35 molecule from UCSD and continues clinical development of the molecule. (more)

October 22, 2007
Transparent Zebrafish Help Researchers Track Breast Cancer
What if doctors could peer through a patient's skin and see a cancer tumor growing? They'd be able to study how tumor cells migrate: how they look, how they interact with the blood system to find nourishment to grow and spread through the body. (more)

October 15, 2007
Cavenee Elected to Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has announced the election of Webster K. Cavenee, Ph.D., a University of California, San Diego-based researcher whose work has helped clarify how cancer develops and spreads, as a new member of the distinguished organization. (more)

October 8, 2007
Award to UCSD to Fund Novel Approaches to Detecting Cancer
Top-scoring award part of NIH initiative to detect cancer by targeting sugar molecules
The potential role of molecular glycans, or sugars, as biomarkers for the early detection of cancer will be the focus of a new research project at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, funded by a $2.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). (more)

September 20, 2007
UCSD Study Reveals the Regulatory Mechanism of Key Enzyme
Protein kinase A (PKA) involved in cardiac disease and breast cancer
Research conducted at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine has shed new light on the structure and function of one of the key proteins in all mammalian cells, protein kinase A (PKA), an enzyme which plays an essential role in memory formation, communication between nerve cells, and cardiac function. Discovery of this enzyme's molecular structure may help researchers to design drugs that specifically block the protein kinase activity involved in cancer or cardiac disease. (more)

September 19, 2007
Yang Awarded New Innovator Award

Jing Yang, Ph.D.

Jing Yang, Ph.D., an assistant professor of pharmacology and pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and member of the Moores Cancer Center, has been awarded a “New Innovator Award” by the NIH for her work to develop new approaches to studying how cancer cells metastasize to distant organs.

“Novel ideas and new investigators are essential ingredients for scientific progress, and the creative scientists we recognize with NIH Director's Pioneer Awards and New Innovator Awards are well-positioned to make significant – and potentially transformative – discoveries in a variety of areas,” said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the NIH, in announcing the award winners at the NIH Director's Pioneer Award Symposium in Washington, D.C. on September 19. (more)

September 12, 2007
Moores UCSD Cancer Center Seeks to Develop
Proton/Particle Treatment and Research CenterThe University of California, San Diego is planning to establish a center for proton and particle therapy, the most powerful forms of radiation therapy available to treat cancer patients today.

Protons and other particles allow for aggressive but highly targeted treatment of tumors, delivering high doses of radiation to malignant cells with minimal harm to nearby healthy tissues. Available at only a handful of centers in the United States and in the world, proton therapy not only reduces the risk of side effects but allows the delivery of higher, more effective radiation doses, improving patient outcome. (more)

August 28, 2007
“Legendary” Surf Contest and Luau Raises More than $600,000
for Research at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center

14^th Annual Luau & Longboard Invitational tops fundraising and attendance records. More than 700 guests, surfing legends, scientists, business leaders, cancer patients and survivors came together to attend the 14^th Annual Luau & Longboard Invitational on Sunday, August 19 at the waters near the Scripps Institution of Oceanography pier, in La Jolla. The event set an attendance record and raised more than $600,000 for cancer research at the Moores Cancer Center, at the University of California, San Diego. (more)

August 23, 2007
Helpline Supporters Celebrate 15 years of Helping Smokers Quit
430,000 people… or an average of 80 people per day. That's the number of people The California Smokers' Helpline has helped “kick the habit” in its 15 years of service.

The Helpline is a free, multi-lingual service operated out of the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego. UCSD researchers joined the California Department of Public Health in a celebratory press conference on today, August 23, 2007, in Los Angeles. (more)

July 11, 2007
Pioneering Surgical Oncologist Joins Cancer Center
Distinguished cancer surgeon, Andrew M. Lowy, M.D., has been recruited to the University of California, San Diego's Moores Cancer Center and School of Medicine, further elevating UC San Diego's role as a leading center for cancer diagnosis, treatment, research and education. (more)

June 5, 2007

Diet and Exercise Key to Surviving Breast Cancer,
Regardless of Obesity, New UCSD Study Says
Breast cancer survivors who eat a healthy diet and exercise moderately can reduce their risk of dying from breast cancer by half, regardless of their weight, suggests a new longitudinal study from the Moores Cancer Center. (more)

June 5, 2007
Hot Flashes May Be Welcome Sign
In Women with Breast Cancer, Study Says
Women on tamoxifen therapy who reported having hot flashes were less likely to develop recurrent breast cancer than those who did not report hot flashes, according to a study from the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Moreover, hot flashes were a stronger predictor of outcome than age, hormone receptor status or even how advanced the breast cancer was at diagnosis. The study results were published online June 1 by the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment , and were presented June 4 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago. (more)

May 21, 2007
Cancer Center Offers SAVI Advanced Breast Cancer Treatment
The Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) is the first facility in California – and the second in the nation – to offer the SAVI applicator, an advanced treatment for breast cancer as part of breast conservation therapy. (more)

April 17, 2007
UCSD Cancer Researchers Report Ability to
Detect Cancer at Earliest, Curable Stage
Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego report that they have developed a new method for detecting cancer very early in its development, when it consists of just a few cells. The best existing detection methods are not able to detect a tumor until it consists of about one million cells. (more)

April 4, 2007
Smoking Cessation Rates Are Up, Cigarette Consumption Is Down,
Says UCSD Study of California's Tobacco Control Program
Since the advent of the California Tobacco Control Program, in 1989, the state's young adult smokers are quitting the habit in record numbers and older smokers are consuming far fewer cigarettes, according to a new series of studies from the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD). (more)

April 3, 2007
Webster K. Cavenee First Recipient of
AACR's Princess Takamatsu Lectureship The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will honor Webster K. Cavenee, Ph.D, as the first recipient of the Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship at the 2007 Annual Meeting, to be held April 14-18 in Los Angeles, Calif. Cavenee is being recognized for his groundbreaking discoveries regarding the genetic mechanisms of predisposition to human cancer and his commitment to the international cancer community. (more)

March 22, 2007
Cancer Center Member Richard D. Kolodner Honored
with Landon-AACR Prize for Basic Cancer Research
This year's winner of the Kirk A. Landon-AACR Prize for Basic Cancer Research is Richard D. Kolodner, Ph.D., member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and professor of medicine and member of the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Kolodner is recognized for his fundamental discoveries in the field of DNA mismatch repair and its connection to human cancer. (more)

March 19, 2007
Inflammation May Play Role in Prostate Cancer Metastasis
Many would assume that “mounting an immune response” or “having your body fight the cancer” is a good thing. Now, research at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine strongly suggests that inflammation associated with the progression of tumors actually plays a key role in the metastasis of prostate cancer. (more)

March 9, 2007
Prostate Cancer Foundation Awards
$100K to Cancer Center Researcher
The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF), the world's largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research, has granted Michael G. Rosenfeld, M.D., an internationally known and respected molecular biologist, a $100,000 award as part of the PCF's 2006 Competitive Awards Program. (more)

February 16, 2007
Members Receive Stem Cell Funding from CIRM
More than two years after voters approved a $3 billion program to fund stem cell research in California, the state has approved the first grants focused solely on human embryonic stem cell research. Seven of those grants have been awarded to researchers at the UCSD, five of whom are members of the Cancer Center. (more)

February 13, 2007
Study Shows Liver an Excellent Target For
Cancer Gene Therapy Using Viral Vectors
A featured paper in the February 14 issue of Nature Cancer Gene Therapy demonstrates that cancer cells in the liver are excellent targets for gene therapy using adenoviral vectors, based upon a fundamental new understanding of the differences between cancerous and normal liver cells. The findings signal a new way to treat cancers that have spread to the liver, such as metastatic cancers of the colon and breast. (more)

February 6, 2007
Two New Studies Back Vitamin D for Cancer Prevention
Researchers Report Levels Needed To Cut Breast, Colon Cancer Risk
Two new vitamin D studies using a sophisticated form of analysis called meta-analysis, in which data from multiple reports is combined, have revealed new prescriptions for possibly preventing up to half of the cases of breast cancer and two-thirds of the cases of colorectal cancer in the United States. (more)

January 25, 2007
Molecular Link between Inflammation and Cancer Discovered
A team led by biochemists at the University of California, San Diego has found what could be a long-elusive mechanism through which inflammation can promote cancer. The findings may provide a new approach for developing cancer therapies. (more)

January 17, 2007
2^nd Annual Albert Szent-Györgyi Prize
Awarded to Webster K. Cavenee, Ph.D.
The National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) announced recently that Webster K. Cavenee, Ph.D., has been awarded the 2^nd Annual Albert Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research. (more)

December 28, 2006
Researchers Identify New Drug Targets for Cancer
Solving a 100-year-old genetic puzzle, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have determined that the same genetic mechanism that drives tumor growth can also act as a tumor suppressor. Their findings could lead to new drug targets for cancer therapies. (more)

December 20, 2006
Moores UCSD Cancer Center Publishes Cookbook and Nutrition Guide
Nutrition experts from the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have created a cookbook that is far more than just a compilation of healthy recipes. The book's three co-authors, all members of the Cancer Center's Cancer Prevention and Control Program, have expanded the cookbook concept to include helpful, easy-to-read informational guidelines about healthy eating and living. (more)

December 5, 2006
Moores UCSD Cancer Center Announces
Cancer Therapeutics Development Agreement
The Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) today announced that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Medarex, Inc. relating to certain targets for antibody-based cancer therapeutics. A separate but related evaluation license agreement has been entered into between UCSD's Office of Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Services and Medarex for the associated intellectual property. Medarex is a biopharmaceutical company based in Princeton, N.J., with research facilities in Milpitas and Sunnyvale, CA. (more)

October 25, 2006

Facts About Prostate Cancer and Its Treatment
By Ajay Sandhu, M.D.In 2006, about 235,000 Americans will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, making it the most common cancer among males. If caught early, prostate cancer is very treatable and usually curable. (more)

September 19, 2006
Moores UCSD Cancer Center Offers
Non-Invasive Neurosurgery for Brain Tumors
Frameless stereotactic radiosurgery is planned and delivered in a single day
Carolyn Steele, 62, was at the dentist having her teeth cleaned when her right leg and foot began shaking uncontrollably. The dental hygienist called paramedics, and minutes later, she was at the hospital, where clinicians suspected she had suffered a stroke. As it turned out, she had lung cancer that had metastasized to the brain. Two small tumors in her brain had caused a mild seizure on her right side. (more)

August 21, 2006
Decrease in Progression of Prostate Cancer
With Plant-based Diet and Stress Reduction
One out of six American men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their life, and more than a third of them will experience a recurrence after undergoing treatment, putting them at high risk to die of the disease. New research from the Moores Cancer Center and School of Medicine at University of California, San Diego suggests that diet changes, reinforced by stress management training, may be effective in slowing or halting the spread of the this deadly cancer. (more)

August 3, 2006
Moores UCSD Cancer Center Launches Clinical Trial
Of Fully Human Antibody for Leukemia
Researchers at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center are participating in an international clinical trial of an investigational drug, called HuMax-CD20 (ofatumumab), for patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have failed, or are not able to take, currently available therapies. (more)

June 30, 2006
Join Katie Couric at Benefit Luncheon for Moores Cancer Center
Katie Couric, one of broadcasting's most respected and popular journalists, will be the keynote speaker for a fund-raising luncheon to benefit cancer research at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center on July 14. (more)

June 13, 2006
UCSD Researchers Develop ‘Smart Petri Dish'
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have developed what they call a “Smart Petri Dish” that could be used to rapidly screen new drugs for toxic interactions or identify cells in the early stages of cancer circulating through a patient's blood. (more)

April 06, 2006
Blood Stem-Cell Mutation Provides Clues to Cancer Development
A mutation in blood stem cells occurs in patients with a blood disorder called polycythemia vera (PV), according to scientists at the University of California , San Diego (UCSD) and at Stanford University School of Medicine. The discovery suggests that development of a very specific inhibitor at the stem-cell level, to interfere with the pathway leading to the disease, could improve treatment for the cancer-causing disorder. (more)

David Tarin, M.D., Ph.D.

February 16, 2006
UCSD Cancer Researchers Provide First Direct Evidence
Of 2-way Conversations Between Malignant, Normal Cells
For more than seven decades, scientists have had tantalizing clues that cancer cells and neighboring non-cancerous cells in the body communicate with one another. It now emerges that this dialog may explain the clinical observation that cancer cells grow to make secondary tumors (metastasize) in some organs of the body and not others. Findings published today suggest that this may also have therapeutic implications. (more)

February 10, 2006
Macrophage Signaling May Affect
Hormone Resistance in Prostate Tumors
Interaction between prostate cancer cells and immune cells called macrophages may be a source of inflammatory signals capable of impacting the effectiveness of androgen antagonists, the most common and effective treatment for prostate cancer, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center. (more)

January 4, 2006
Cancer Researchers Describe Gene That Halts
Spread of Aggressive Childhood Cancer
Findings confirm new ‘metastasis suppressor' gene
A team of cancer researchers has shown that a gene commonly lost during neuroblastoma tumor formation, one of the most aggressive cancers in babies and children, is in fact a “metastasis suppressor” gene. (more)

Past Milestones
October 3, 2005
Thinking Big with the Very Small:
Focus of New Cancer Nanotechnology Center at UCSD
In a new national effort to fight cancer with “nanoscale” devices that find and destroy tumor cells while leaving healthy tissue unharmed, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) today awarded the University of California, San Diego $3.9 million in the first year of a five-year $20 million initiative to establish a Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE). The UCSD center will use nanotechnology to develop anti-cancer therapies that directly target tumor cells; more accurate and faster diagnostics; and ways to track down cancer cells that survive therapy. (more)

March 30, 2005
Moores UCSD Cancer Center Dedication Ceremony Set For April 8
After eight years in planning and two years in construction, the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center building is set to open with the official ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for Friday, April 8. More than 300 guests are expected. Presiding over the event will be the director of the National Cancer Institute, Andrew von Eschenbach; University of California Regent and donor John Moores; UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox; and others.

At $105 million and 270,000 square feet, this is the largest project ever undertaken by the UCSD Health Sciences. The new building allows for the consolidation of the extensive clinical, research, education and community outreach programs of the Moores Cancer Center. The facility contains state-of-the-art clinical space that is also comfortable and welcoming for patients; modern laboratories to support research that advances prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malignancy; and areas dedicated to patient support and education – all core missions of the region’s only NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center. (more)

September 8, 2004
Moores UCSD Cancer Center Marks
25 Years of Service to Community
Anniversary Gift: Free Pamphlets for Preventing, Dealing with Cancer
The Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center is celebrating its 25^th Anniversary and, as a gift to the community, has created three new pamphlets with helpful information from the experts at the Cancer Center. Each pamphlet is packed with 25 tips – for cancer patients, for family members and friends of someone with cancer, or for those who want the latest information on how to reduce their risk of developing cancer. (more)

September 30, 2003
New Director Named For Moores UCSD Cancer Center
An internationally respected immunologist and cancer biologist on the UCSD faculty has been named as the new director of the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center. Dennis Carson, M.D., will take the helm of the region’s only federally designated comprehensive cancer center, effective November 10. (more)

November 8, 2002
UCSD Breaks Ground on World-Class Cancer Center Facility

l-r: UC President Richard C. Atkinson; UCSD Chancellor Robert D. Dynes; naming benefactor Rebecca Moores; naming benefactor Jerome Katzin; Center Director David Tarin; naming benefactor John Moores; naming benefactor Miriam Katzin; Edward W. Holmes, UCSD Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and Dean of the School of Medicine

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) broke ground today on the new Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center, a 270,000-square-foot facility that will unite the Center’s clinical, research, education and outreach activities under one roof. In this facility, laboratories and clinics employing 21^st century technology will share space with amenities such as the Garden of Hope, a serene outdoor setting designed especially for the comfort of cancer patients. Officiating at the ceremonies were UC President Richard C. Atkinson; UCSD Chancellor Robert C. Dynes; naming benefactors John and Rebecca Moores, and Jerome and Miriam Katzin; Edward W. Holmes, UCSD Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and Dean of the School of Medicine; and Cancer Center Director David Tarin. Approximately 300 friends, supporters, faculty and staff of the Cancer Center attended the morning event. (more)

August 1, 2001
UCSD Cancer Center Achieves Prestigious National Status
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has designated UCSD Cancer Center as a Comprehensive Cancer Center, the highest ranking awarded to cancer centers by the federal government, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced here today via a live video satellite link from the nation’s capitol. (more)