Newswise — SEATTLE — AUG. 24, 2017— Here are quick summaries for journalists that offer sources and story ideas from Fred Hutch. Each links to more detailed information and includes contact information for arranging interviews.
Fred Hutch Researchers Target Breast Cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa
Dr. Manoj Menon, a researcher with Fred Hutch Global Oncology, will co-lead a multidimensional study with the director of the Uganda Cancer Institute that could change the way breast cancer is diagnosed and treated in sub-Saharan Africa. Breast cancer in this region tends to strike younger women and be especially aggressive — disease characteristics also seen in African-American women. Fewer than half of women diagnosed with breast cancer in sub-Saharan Africa are still alive after five years, compared with almost 90 percent in the United States. The study is funded by a $1.4 million grant from GSK.
Media Contact: Claire Hudson, [email protected], 206.667.7365
Hutch Researchers Find That Healthy Skin Cells Help Keep Cancer at Bay
Healthy skin cells are able to fight off the cancerous tendencies of nearby cells that harbor cancer-causing mutations, according to new work published by Fred Hutch’s Dr. Slobodan Beronja and colleagues at Yale University. They were surprised to see “an unanticipated repair mechanism” — an interplay between mutant and normal cells that is efficient and reproducible from one group of cells to the next.
Media Contact: Molly McElroy, [email protected], 206.667.6651
With Outreach to Minority Communities, HIV Prevention Study to Enroll 4,200 Volunteers
Community engagement managers are reaching out to communities of color to overcome the stigma of HIV and decades of distrust to enroll 4,200 volunteers at sites around the world to test an experimental antibody that could potentially protect people from HIV infection. Run by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network headquartered at Fred Hutch, the AMP HIV Prevention Study is testing an antibody modeled on one that developed naturally in a person whose immune system controlled his HIV infection for years without medication. If the antibody provides protection as hoped, information gleaned from the study could potentially help scientists develop a vaccine.
Media Contact: Claire Hudson, [email protected], 206.667.7365
Experts on the Effects of Air Pollution on Lung Cancer Risk Studying Women’s Risk
Large international and U.S. studies have found that increases in a type of air pollution known as particulate matter increased deaths due to lung cancer, even among people who had never smoked. Dr. Parveen Bhatti, an expert on environmental factors that affect cancer risk, and colleagues are now analyzing data from the Women’s Health Initiative — a large, long-term research study headquartered at Fred Hutch that involved more than 161,000 postmenopausal women in the U.S. — to see if the link to increased cancer risk holds true in that specific population as well.
Media Contact: Claire Hudson, [email protected], 206.667.7365
Kleberg Foundation Grant Supports Leukemia Clinical Trial
The Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation has awarded a $500,000 grant to support a clinical trial to improve the use of umbilical cord blood as a treatment for leukemia. Principal investigator Dr. Filippo Milano, associate director of Fred Hutch’s Cord Blood Program, and program director Dr. Colleen Delaney will use the two-year grant to examine a new cord-blood transplant regimen that might lower cost while improving treatment outcomes.
Media Contact: Molly McElroy, [email protected], 206.667.6651
New Center Seeks Answers to All Cancers by Focusing on Those Caused by Viruses and Other Pathogens
Dr. Denise Galloway, a Fred Hutch microbiologist whose research helped pave the way for the cancer-preventive human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, will direct the new Pathogen-Associated Malignancies Integrated Research Center. Up to 20 percent of newly diagnosed cancers are caused directly or indirectly by viruses, bacteria and other pathogens. The new center will capitalize on Hutch researchers’ deep experience in basic cancer biology, global oncology, immunotherapy, vaccine development and other expertise to improve strategies for these cancers, with the secondary goal of advancing cures for all cancers.
Media Contact: Jonathan Rabinovitz, [email protected], 206.658.7612
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At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch’s pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch houses the nation’s first cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women’s Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network.
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