Newswise — The Cancer Research Institute, Inc. (CRI), a U.S. nonprofit organization established in 1953 to advance the science of tumor immunology and drive the discovery of new cancer immunotherapies, announced today the winners of the 2011 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumor Immunology. CRI bestows this annual award, considered the Nobel Prize in tumor immunology, upon one or more scientists whose discoveries in the fields of immunology or tumor immunology significantly contribute to the advancement of immune system-based therapies for cancer.
This year, the Coley Award goes jointly to Philip D. Greenberg, M.D., professor of medicine and immunology at the University of Washington School of Medicine and head of the program in immunology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA, and Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., chief of surgery at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD, and professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC, for their pioneering work to bring adoptive T cell therapy from its experimental foundations in the laboratory, through proof of concept, to its successful application in the clinic as a treatment for cancer.
Exploiting the power and specificity of the immune system to fight cancer has been a long-held goal of tumor immunology. In this effort, T cells have been the focus of intense study because of their ability to eliminate threats within the body, such as virally infected or malignant cells, effectively and with such specificity that normal, healthy tissue remains unharmed. Since the early 1980s, when Drs. Greenberg and Rosenberg first showed that the adoptive transfer of T cells—in which T cells are harvested from the body, grown to vast numbers in the laboratory, and then re-infused—could cause significant tumor regressions in experimental systems, this approach has represented an important avenue of inquiry for scientists seeking to effectively harness the power of T cells to treat cancer in human patients.
“For more than 30 years, Drs. Greenberg and Rosenberg led the vanguard of adoptive T cell therapy, and their many contributions to this field have opened up important new avenues for the immunologic treatment of cancer,” says Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, Ph.D., chief executive officer and director of scientific affairs at CRI. “More recently, their work and that of their colleagues has demonstrated that adoptive T cell transfer can produce potent anti-cancer immune responses, including dramatic remissions in some patients with melanoma and sarcoma. These clinical results demonstrate the potential of adoptive T cell therapy, and, we predict, are precursors to future successes in broader cancer patient populations.”
The Coley Award is one of the highest honors bestowed to scientists in recognition of seminal discoveries in immunology and tumor immunology research. Since CRI established the Coley Award in 1975, it has been presented to 81 outstanding scientists, many of whom have gone on to win prestigious awards including the Gairdner Prize, National Medal of Science, Lasker Award, and Nobel Prize. As such, many consider the Coley Award both as a marker for the most important scientific developments in the history of cancer immunotherapy and as a predictor of future impact of these discoveries on human health.
“In receiving the Coley Award, Drs. Greenberg and Rosenberg join a distinguished group of researchers whose work not only has deepened our understanding of the immune system and its response to cancer, but has also, collectively, helped to lay the essential scientific foundation for the now rapidly growing field of cancer immunotherapy,” says Lloyd J. Old, M.D., director of the CRI Scientific Advisory Council.
Drs. Greenberg and Rosenberg will receive their awards at CRI’s 25th Annual Awards Dinner to be held the evening of October 3 at 583 Park Avenue in New York City. Also presented at the Dinner will be the 2011 Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology to Stephen C. Jameson, Ph.D., a former CRI postdoctoral fellowship recipient whose work has shed important light on the mechanisms of T cell activation and differentiation, and the 2011 Oliver R. Grace Award for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research to Mitchell H. Gold, M.D., president and CEO of Dendreon Corporation, and to celebrated film and television producer Laura Ziskin, who will receive the award posthumously. 2011 marks the first year that all three awards will be presented at the same event.
More information about the event and the honorees will be made available on the Cancer Research Institute website at http://www.cancerresearch.org/events/annual-dinner-2011.
Media Contact: Brian Brewer, Director of Marketing and Communications, Cancer Research Institute, (212) 688-7515, ext. 242 or [email protected]
Event Contact: Lynne Harmer, Director of Special Events, Cancer Research Institute, (212) 688-7515, ext. 238 or [email protected] About the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor ImmunologyThis award was established in 1975 in honor of Dr. William B. Coley, a pioneer of cancer immunotherapy, whose daughter Helen Coley Nauts (1907-2001) founded the Cancer Research Institute. Award winners are nominated by CRI’s Scientific Advisory Council, the Academy of Cancer Immunology, and former Coley Award winners, including: Haruo Ohtani, Wolf Hervé Fridman, and Jérôme Galon (2010), Cornelis J.M. Melief (2009), Klaus Rajewsky and Frederick W. Alt (co-recipients, 2009), Michael J. Bevan (2008), Jeffrey V. Ravetch (2007), Shizuo Akira, Bruce A. Beutler, Ian H. Frazer and Harald zur Hausen (2006), James P. Allison (2005), Shimon Sakaguchi and Ethan M. Shevach (2004), Jules A. Hoffmann, Charles A. Janeway, Bruno Lemaitre, and Ruslan Medzhitov (2003), Lewis L. Lanier, David H. Raulet, and Mark J. Smyth (2002), and Robert D. Schreiber (2001). Each winner will receive a cash prize of $5,000 and a gold medallion designed by Van Cleef & Arpels. To view a complete list of Coley Award recipients, go to http://www.cancerresearch.org/programs/annual-awards/william-coley.html.
About the Cancer Research InstituteThe Cancer Research Institute (CRI), established in 1953, is the world’s only nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to transforming cancer patient care by advancing scientific efforts to develop new and effective immune system-based strategies to treat and prevent cancer. Guided by a world-renowned Scientific Advisory Council that includes three Nobel laureates and thirty members of the National Academy of Sciences, CRI has invested more than $200 million in support of research conducted by immunologists and tumor immunologists at the world’s leading medical centers and universities, and has contributed to many of the key scientific advances that demonstrate the potential for immunotherapy to change the face of cancer treatment.
To accelerate the pace of progress in the field, CRI convenes and coordinates global collaborations among academics, industry scientists and decision makers, regulatory representatives, and health research associations focused on discovery, development, and refinement of new cancer immunotherapies. A founding visionary and scientific leader in tumor immunology, CRI is helping to shape the emerging field of immuno-oncology, and is ushering in a new era of medical progress to bring more treatment options to cancer patients sooner.
The Cancer Research Institute has one of the lowest overhead expense ratios among nonprofit organizations, with more than 85 percent of its resources going directly to the support of its science, medical, and research programs. CRI meets or exceeds all 20 standards of the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, the most comprehensive U.S. charity evaluation service, and has earned the GuideStar Exchange Seal, indicating our commitment to the transparency of our organizational information to donors, funders, those we serve, the public, and regulators. CRI has also received an ‘A’ grade for fiscal disclosure and efficiency from the American Institute of Philanthropy, as well as top accolades from other charity watchdog organizations. For more information, visit http://www.cancerresearch.org.
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