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) have been given to researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego in an effort to develop new ways to detect early cancers that require treatment and monitor the effectiveness of new molecular-based cancer therapies.

"This grant will help in our development of diagnostic tools that define the cancer at its earliest stages," Robert Mattrey, professor of radiology at the UC San Diego School of Medicine told DOTmed News. "We're not just looking to see if it's there, but at its characteristics."

Researchers will focus initially on three main basic research projects, all of which are aimed at translating laboratory findings in animals to the clinic.
According to Mattrey, cancers that express an enzyme called a matrix metalloproteinase tend to be aggressive and are likely to spread. Such enzymes are instrumental in breaking down tissues, enabling cancers to escape and enter the bloodstream and/or lymphatic system and metastasize, or spread, to distant sites.

"Such cancers will stay local until they are able to break down the tissue matrix that allows loose cells to get out and seed distant tissues," Mattrey said. "It's thought that metastases develop this way."

Determining the likelihood that a cancer could be aggressive has implications for treatment decisions, especially for diseases where the treatment adds risk. Mattrey cited the following example: A 60-year-old man who is diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer might elect to undergo surgery, whereas a man with a slow-growing malignancy might decide to wait and let physicians monitor his tumor.

Other Cutting-edge Projects

In another project, David Vera and co-investigator Stephen Howell, MD, Professor of Medicine at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, will use nuclear imaging and ultrasound to virtually crawl inside of cancer cells and monitor the presence and activity of an experimental platinum-based chemotherapy drug to find out if the therapy is hitting its targets and working or not.

A third project will see a study of the use of tiny nanoparticles to image and detect changes in the blood vessels that serve tumors. Since tumors, in particular metastatic tumors, alter the behavior of their associated blood vessels, Stupack is hoping to develop a novel, sensitive imaging system that will detect these tumors at their earliest stages.

The Moores UCSD Cancer Center is one of the nation's 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, combining research, clinical care and community outreach to advance the prevention, treatment and cure of cancer.

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