Newswise — NEW YORK (October 13, 2015) – Researchers at Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care (MECCC) and the NCI-designated Albert Einstein Cancer Center (AECC) today announced receipt of a 3-year, $750,000 grant from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), an office of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The funding will support research on the mechanism of action of a novel tumor suppressor protein, FILIP1L, which has been shown to inhibit the spread of ovarian cancer. Understanding how FILIP1L exerts its effect on tumor cells will allow for further development of novel therapeutic approaches in ovarian cancer, the fifth leading cause of death from cancer in women.
There are no reliable screening tests for ovarian cancer and most diagnoses are made after the disease has spread throughout the abdomen. Overall survival rates have improved from recent advances in chemotherapy, but prognosis still remains poor, citing a need for novel approaches to care.
“We are proud to have been selected to receive this DoD grant which supports the mission and vision of the Ovarian Cancer Research Program,” said Steven K. Libutti, M.D., F.A.C.S., director, MECCC, professor and vice chairman in the Department of Surgery at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, professor in the Department of Genetics and associate director of clinical services at AECC. “Completion of our research will provide immediate and important insights into the role of the FILIP1L protein in regulating the spread of ovarian cancer cells. Down the road, compounds mimicking FILIP1L activity could be developed as new treatments to arrest the spread of this deadly form of cancer.”
The Department of Defense (DoD) Ovarian Cancer Research Program (OCRP) supports high-impact, cutting-edge research that fills unmet needs. The OCRP establishes priorities to target the most critical needs along the pipeline from basic to translational to clinical research and to push the field of ovarian cancer forward to eliminate this disease.
The Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) was created in 1992 from a grassroots effort led by the breast cancer advocacy community that resulted in a congressional appropriation of funds for breast cancer research. This initiated a unique partnership among the public, Congress, and the military. Funding for programs like the OCRP is allocated with guidance from Congress.
The research team at Montefiore and Einstein is led by Dr. Libutti and Mijung Kwon, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Montefiore and Einstein.
About Montefiore Health SystemMontefiore is a premier academic health system and the University Hospital for Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Combining nationally-recognized clinical excellence with a population health perspective that focuses on the comprehensive needs of the communities it serves, Montefiore delivers coordinated, compassionate, science-driven care where, when and how patients need it most. Montefiore consists of eight hospitals and an extended care facility with a total of 2,747 beds, a School of Nursing, and state-of-the-art primary and specialty care provided through a network of more than 150 locations across the region, including the largest school health program in the nation and a home health program. The Children's Hospital at Montefiore is consistently named in U.S. News' "America's Best Children's Hospitals." Montefiore's partnership with Einstein advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. The health system derives its inspiration for excellence from its patients and community, and continues to be on the frontlines of developing innovative approaches to care. For more information please visit http://www.montefiore.org. Follow us on Twitter; like us on Facebook; view us on YouTube.
About Albert Einstein College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University is one of the nation’s premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2014-2015 academic year, Einstein is home to 742 M.D. students, 212 Ph.D. students, 102 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and 292 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has more than 2,000 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2014, Einstein received $158 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, cancer, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. Through its extensive affiliation network involving Montefiore, Jacobi Medical Center—Einstein’s founding hospital, and three other hospital systems in the Bronx, Brooklyn and on Long Island, Einstein runs one of the largest residency and fellowship training programs in the medical and dental professions in the United States. For more information, please visit www.einstein.yu.edu, read our blog, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and view us on YouTube.
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