For Immediate Release
November 13, 2006

...May Reveal Secrets of Deadly Disease

Groundbreaking initiative involving 11 research centers will create a datamine for scientists seeking to prevent lung cancer’s onset

BUFFALO, NY – With a grim overall five-year lung cancer survival rate of 15%, an international effort has been launched by Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) to potentially revolutionize the prevention, detection and treatment of the disease.

Today, RPCI, joined by lung cancer experts representing 11 leading research institutions, announced the establishment of the first international lung cancer registry – the Stacey Scott Lung Cancer Registry. The goal of this global collaboration is to deepen the understanding of lung cancer at its earliest, most treatable stages. Founded and co-directed by pulmonologist Gregory Loewen, DO, the registry will be housed at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Additional co-directors are Alex A. Adjei, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President of Clinical Research and Chair of the Department of Medicine at RPCI, and Mary Reid, PhD, a research scientist in RPCI’s Department of Epidemiology, Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences.

 “With the knowledge gleaned through this registry, we will be able to intervene with high-risk patients before they develop clinically evident lung cancer,” said Dr. Adjei. “A system of shared information through a patient registry concentrated in one database will facilitate research into the characteristics and progression of lung cancer.”

Precancerous lesions for lung cancer, which previously have been undetectable, can now be visualized using technologies such as autofluorescence bronchoscopy (AFB). Understanding how precancerous conditions become cancerous has been difficult because no single institution was able to gather data from enough patients or to follow up patients for a sufficient period of time to provide clinically relevant answers. To resolve these issues, principal investigators from the 11 centers have agreed to contribute patient information to this multi-institutional, high-risk lung cancer patient registry.

All of that information—millions of dollars’ worth of lung cancer research data—will be organized at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and made accessible to scientists. Researchers will then utilize registry data to initiate studies that may answer critical questions, such as: What changes take place in precancerous lesions that trigger their transformation into lung cancer? What diagnostic test(s) would most effectively screen for those changes? And do genetic biomarkers combined with risk factors, such as smoking, lead to the development of lung cancer?

Dr. Adjei continued, “If we can’t intervene in this deadly disease at the early stages, we’ll always be playing catch-up… so the scientific discoveries that can come from this are significant. Understanding how lung cancer develops and evolves can potentially lead to new advances for its early detection and treatment, including new chemopreventive approaches.”

Fred Hirsch, MD, PhD of the University of Colorado Cancer Center and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, adds, “The registry’s principal value lies in combing data from many institutions. The statistical power is so much greater, more conclusive than what a single institution could develop on its own.”

The Stacey Scott Lung Cancer Registry is named for a previously healthy non-smoking 38-year-old woman who lost her four-month battle with the disease in 2005. Mrs. Scott was a patient of Dr. Gregory Loewen at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. “The registry has the potential to help prevent others from facing the situation I faced so that they do not lose a wife, husband, sister or brother to this disease,” said William Scott, Jr., Stacey’s husband. Scott, along with family members and colleagues, has helped to raise over $600,000 thus far to support the registry’s work.

The breakthrough collaboration includes preeminent lung cancer clinicians and researchers from 11 institutions. These are Roswell Park Cancer Institute, headquartered in Buffalo, NY (registry direction); University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Academic Hospital Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, Jacksonville, FL, and Scottsdale, AZ; New York University Medical Center, New York, NY; Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; The Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; and University of Chicago Cancer Research Center, Chicago, IL.

RPCI’s Mary Reid, PhD, will oversee the day-to-day operations of the registry. Representatives from the National Cancer Institute also will serve in an advisory role.

RPCI is a leader of past cancer breakthroughs, including the first use of chemotherapy, the PSA test for prostate cancer, and photodynamic therapy. RPCI also has significantly contributed to the field of smoking-related cancer research. The Institute’s cancer registry expertise began with the establishment of the international Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry in 1981—a database of information on over 1,800 families from across the world with familial ovarian cancer.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute, founded in 1898, is the nation’s first cancer research, treatment and education center and is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center headquartered in Upstate New York. RPCI is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers. Roswell Park has multiple affiliate sites and collaborative programs in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois as well as overseas in China. For more information, visit RPCI's website at www.roswellpark.org, call 1-877-ASK-RPCI (1-877-275-7724) or e-mail askrpci@roswellpark.org.

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Media Liaisons:

Roswell Park Cancer Institute (headquartered in Buffalo, NY)–Drs. Alex A. Adjei, Gregory Loewen and Mary Reid (Co-Directors)

Deborah Pettibone, 716-845-8593, deborah.pettibone@roswellpark.org

University of Colorado Cancer Center (Aurora, CO)–Drs. Tim Kennedy, Fred Hirsch, York Miller, Wilbur Franklin

Sarah Ellis, APR, 303-724-1527, sarah.ellis@uchsc.edu

BC Cancer Agency (Vancouver, BC, Canada)–Drs. Stephen Lam and Annette McWilliams

Nicole Adams, 604-675-8105, nadams@bccancer.bc.ca

Fox Chase Cancer Center (Philadelphia, PA)–Dr. Michael Unger

Karen Mallet, 215-728-2700, Karen.mallet@fccc.edu

Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, Jacksonville, FL, and Scottsdale, AZ)–Dr. Eric Edell

Elizabeth Zimmermann, 507-284-5005, zimmermann.elizabeth@mayo.edu

New York University Medical Center (New York, NY)–Dr. Harvey Pass

Pam McDonnell, 212-404-3525, Pamela.McDonnell@nyumc.org

Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)–Drs. Dan Sterman and Anil Vachani

Olivia Fermano, (215) 349-5653, olivia.fermano@uphs.upenn.edu

The Ohio State University Medical Center (Columbus, OH)–Dr. Patrick Ross

Michelle Gailiun, 614-293-3737, Michelle.Gailiun@osumc.edu

The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD)–Dr. William Krimsky

Vanessa Wasta, MBA, 410-614-2916, Wastava@jhmi.edu

University of Chicago Cancer Research Center (Chicago, IL)–Dr. Kyle Hogarth

Paul Butera, PhD, 773/702-4636, pbutera@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu

Academic Hospital Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)–Dr. Tom Sutedja               

Edith Krab, (020) 444 3444, communicatie@VUmc.nl