Personalized Treatment for Cancer

Reported October

TAMPA, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Cancer is the second leading cause of death in America, with as many as 1.5 million men and women diagnosed in a single year. For most cancer patients, a protocol of chemo and/or radiation is the standard approach. But what if doctors could figure out exactly what kind of treatment would work best for each individual patient? That’s the goal of a new research effort.

"It always knocks the wind out of you when someone tells you [that] you have cancer," Steve Flowers told Ivanhoe.

Months since Flowers underwent surgery, chemo and radiation for metastatic melanoma, his tumor is now a part of an unprecedented new effort to find a cure.

"If donating that tissue saves one life, it’s pretty remarkable," Flowers said. “It didn’t cost me anything, and I was very happy to see it go."

Flower's cancer is part of a growing database at Tampa's Moffitt Cancer Center, where biomedical researchers collect hundreds of thousands of tumors, tissue samples and fluids from more than 20,000 cancer patients, looking for a more personalized approach to treatment.

"Patients who have melanoma, patients who have colon cancer, patients who have breast cancers get the same type of chemotherapies, and that’s why they’re trying to personalize it and identify the difference between those patients, their cancers," Michelle Fournier, Biomedical Scientist at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., told Ivanhoe.

By 2011, Moffitt’s bio-repository expects to have over 2 million samples of normal and abnormal tissue for study, helping researchers identify the genetic and molecular signatures of cancer.

Ultimately, researchers will use the data to develop new treatments and match cancer patients with the specific evidence-based therapy that will work best for them. The goal is more success stories like Flower's -- patients who can fight and win their battle with cancer.

"It’s changed my life, changed my life," Flowers described. “You look at everyday differently now."

The massive research effort, called Total Cancer Care, has already enrolled more than 20,000 patients in 16 states, including patients with virtually every kind of cancer.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Michelle Foley
Public Information Officer
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Tampa, FL
(813) 745-1505
michelle.foley@moffitt.org

More the 2 billion people worldwide could get it. Now, researchers are taking aim at the swine flu. We’ll show the latest research on battling this bug

From pigs … to humans … to dogs? Why some pet owners should be concerned about their dog getting the flu

32,000 troops have been wounded in the Iraq War. Now, new technology is helping medics train for the war zone right here at home

Doctors are plugging into the brain’s electrical circuits to offer relief when medications don’t work

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. In one of the largest research studies of its kind, 20,000 patients -- and their tumors -- are helping doctors personalize cancer treatment like never before

Overheating -- it causes dozens of deaths each year on the playing field. Now a simple set of shoulder pads could protect players from the heat

Frustrated by high electric bills? Relief may be blowing in the wind!

Love a garden but don’t have a green thumb? Robots are now helping man in the fields … and you in your own backyard

Technology is taking the harvest indoors! This just isn’t any greenhouse -- It’s a new way of growing that saves energy and money and keeps fresh veggies on your table longer

There’s a danger in the soil our kids play in. Chronic lead poisoning is affecting kids in epidemic proportions

We are going deeper into the sea than ever before! A new robot is showing us marine life we’ve never witnessed

20 years of research has resulted in a major find for astronomy --a star with a record number of plants. It could be the closest thing to Earth that we’ve found yet!