Dr. Pia Morelli with Fight Colorectal Cancer Board Chair Nancy Roach

Fight Colorectal Cancer and its generous Lisa Fund donors struck a blow against late stage colorectal cancer Tuesday, April 9th at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Washington D.C.

Top cancer researchers from around the nation applauded as we, along with the AACR, awarded a $50,000 research grant to Pia Morelli, M.D., Ph.D., a post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

With this grant, Dr. Morelli will use highly specific DNA tests on blood samples to identify those patients most likely to respond to drugs that target the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), and also to detect even more specific KRAS and EGFR mutations that develop over time, which perhaps cause patients to eventually become resistant to anti-EGFR drugs such as Erbitux (cetuximab) and Vectibix (panitumumab).

Currently, tumors of late-stage colorectal cancer patients are tested to detect a KRAS genetic mutation. If they have the mutation, they do not receive Erbitux or Vectibix. However, even those who have wild-type (non-mutated) KRAS and initially respond to anti-EGFR treatments can develop resistance and no longer benefit from these powerful drugs.

Researchers now understand that cancer is usually a “cascade” of events–often involving more than one genetic mutation and/or abnormal cell functions.–and that over time, patients may develop new mutations, even in different sections of one tumor. However, tumors are always leaking DNA into the blood stream. In her research, Dr. Morelli will analyze blood samples of colorectal cancer patients using a highly specialized new technique of DNA analysis that can detect these less frequent mutations that can occur in both the KRAS gene  and in EGFR cell-wall mutations over time, and that might cause chemotheraphy resistance. The ultimate hope would be to eventually use blood DNA analysis instead of repeated tumor biopsies to monitor cancer cell changes during disease progression and treatment.

Working at MD Anderson, she will be able to test large numbers of blood samples to see if the highly sensitive DNA analysis can better predict both initial response and/or developing resistance to the anti-EGFR targeted drugs.

Dr. Morelli graduated summa cum laude in medicine and started her medical oncology fellowship at the Second University at Naples School of Medicine, where she had the rare chance to do “translational research”—doing both patient care and  laboratory research on the EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) and VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor) that stimulate tumor growth. Recruited to the University of Colorado Cancer Center, she completed her medical oncology fellowship and a Ph.D. with world-renowned Dr. Gail Eckhardt, continuing her laboratory research into targeted drugs plus running Phase I clinical trials. She then worked two years at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center, and in 2012 came to the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

According to her supervising mentor, Scott Kopetz, M.D., Ph.D, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Morelli has “a unique insight into questions of particular clinical relevance….She is able to maximize the information derived from patient-based studies [combined with]…her unique molecular biology background.”

Her research, he said, is “anticipated to have profound impact on clinical outcomes.”

An AACR expert committee selected Dr. Morelli as winner of the 2013 Fight Colorectal Cancer-AACR Fellowship, given annually in memory of the late Lisa Dubow.

One of just a few AACR fellowships–and the only one focused on late-stage colorectal cancer–it is funded 100% by donations to the Lisa Fund at Fight Colorectal Cancer.

Lisa Dubow, one of the founding members of Fight Colorectal Cancer, directly credited researchers for giving her extra years of survival with stage IV colorectal cancer. Before her death, she launched what became known as the Lisa Fund to support young scientists who chose advanced (metastatic) colorectal cancer as their research focus.

) photo by ThinkProgress

The annual scientific meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research took a little lunch break on Monday, April 8th in Washington, D.C., while the attendees streamed outside to join a crowd of several thousand gathered across the street for a loud street rally.

“When [Congress] sees a grassroots movement rising up from doctors, from scientists, from advocates, and patients, you become impossible to ignore,” cancer survivor Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) told the cheering crowd. (Watch video of the speakers here.)

Fight Colorectal Cancer was one of 200-plus organizations who gathered and supported the  Rally for Medical Research, aimed at the politicians who have made, and are making,  decisions about budget cuts. The sequester alone will cut about $1.5 billion from the National Institutes of Health, and with overall budget cuts, NIH will lose about $12.5 billion over the year.

Penny-wise, pound-foolish: Research cuts mean lost jobs

Speaker Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Ph.D., president of Rockefeller University, pointed out that NIH total spending comes to about $100 per person in the U.S. each year, compared with that person’s yearly health costs totaling around $8000.

The main scientific organizations, including AACR (the American Association for Cancer Research) at its current annual meeting, point out that those NIH cuts alone will likely result in the loss of a half-million jobs, and an estimated $860 billion in economic growth over the next nine years. In fact,, federal investment in the largest-ever scientific collaboration, the Human Genome Project, paid off wildly: the economy gained $140 for every $1 in federal support over 5 years–not to mention the warp-speed increase in genetic knowledge about every major disease.

Scientists Honor Katie Couric

The AACR also took time to award colorectal cancer activist and journalist Katie Couric with its 2013 AACR Award for Distinguished Public Service, for all her work fundraising for research and drawing the public’s attention to cancer screening and treatment. She told the crowded hall, that “with 18,000 scientists gathered here, there are enough synapses firing in this room alone to power a nuclear reactor….To stand here in front of all of you is truly humbling….I consider myself the unofficial but highly enthusiastic cheerleader for the people who do research in cancer.”

Five years ago, she said, ” We could not tolerate the fact the NCI could only fund 1 in 10 of grant proposals,” so a dozen “truly Type A women” founded Stand Up To Cancer, emphasizing teamwork, tight time frames, and true collaboration with five “dream teams” (now grown to 10) taking on out-of-the-box ideas to beat cancer. (See the video about Katie Couric, followed by her speech, here.

Stay tuned…more to come

Fight Colorectal Cancer is well represented at AACR: stay tuned.

Sources: The Rally for Medical Research, reported on by The Hill, by HealthWatch , and “Thousands Rally for Medical Research in Washington, DC”, Apr. 8 Medscape Oncology News; news from AACR Annual Meeting, Tuesday Daily Alert. 

Andrea Bertotti, MD, PhD

Andrea Bertotti, M.D., Ph.D. 
Istituto per la Ricerca e la Cura del Cancro, Candiolo, Italy 

Improving targeted therapy in colorectal cancer through xenopatients

Grant amount: $100,000 over 2 years

Dr. Bertotti has created a unique collection of “xenopatients”–mice which are implanted and living with more than 300 different human colorectal cancer tumors. Each tumor has been meticulously analyzed for gene expression, exome, and cell pathways. With this grant, he will be able to test (in mice rather than in patients) how specific human tumors with defined genetics respond to specific drugs and combinations. Bertotti’s work will also speed the search for biomarkers—tests that could predict which drug will work for an individual’s specific metastatic colorectal cancer.

Dr. Bertotti’s research marks a milestone for Fight Colorectal Cancer: It is our first-ever two-year $100,000 grant to a scientist whose work fights advanced stage colorectal cancer.

Dr. Bertotti has already made a mark in colorectal cancer research. “Andrea has stood out as one of the most brilliant young scientists of our institution,” said Dr. Paolo Comoglio, Scientific Director of the IRCC. He led “a huge institutional effort” to create the library of genetically analyzed human tumors transplanted into mice. With those human tumor samples, the laboratory will focus on the 40 percent of human metastatic cancer samples in which the tumor is held stable—but does not shrink—when treated with Erbitux (cetuximab).

Using the mouse models, the lab will be able to safely test a combination treatment, adding lapatinib (another drug which works similarly but in a different pathway than Erbitux). The scientists will analyze the cells, looking for biomarkers that predict response to the treatments, as well as other pathways for which new drugs could be developed. If the drugs substantially shrink a subset of tumors, the research could potentially move into clinical trials.

“His work will be ground-breaking and exactly in line with the reason Lisa Dubow created this fund—to support a promising researcher working to advance the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer,” said Carlea Bauman, president of Fight Colorectal Cancer.

Make an investment in colorectal cancer research. Donate to the Lisa Fund today.

After reaching out to the region of Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia we pulled together an awesome group of attendance, consisting of patients, survivors, “thrivers”, nurses, nurse navigators, caregivers, family members of patients, and friends of patients who have passed.

It was a really good sampling of several different types of people. The discussion will greatly help us better focus our efforts in awareness, education and on the research fronts.

We sent a lengthy online survey out prior to the event, which resulted in a discussion that lasted over 2 hours. Co-moderator Kim Ryan, Director of Patient Information Services commented:

I think the nicest part of the evening was that we were able to connect with some new advocates, and ones that had no idea we even existed before, and now want to be heavily involved with us.

I found a lot of value in last night’s discussion, as I think the attendees did as well.

The next session is scheduled in Charleston, SC on December 8th – find information on how to register at: http://charlestoncrcdiscussion.eventbrite.com/ With continued support and additional outreach we hope to do more of these focus groups in other parts of the country.

So stay tuned, join us, don’t miss out!

The numbers are stark and will touch every single American.

A picture of cancer in the greying American population was drawn in a recent study in the Journal of Geriatric Oncology examining trends in the National Cancer Institute’s population-based SEER data:

The number of “oldest of the old” Americans (age 85 or older) will double between 2000 and 2030; and will have tripled by 2040 (from 4.3 million to 15.4 million).

• Cancer in the oldest old is the 2^nd leading cause of death: More than 1 in 5 over age 85 will develop cancer.
• The total cost of cancer care will rise 39% in just 10 years, between 2010 and 2020—much of that cost in care for elderly.
• Among those age 85 or above, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common cancer.

That’s some of the bad news. But the recent story of colorectal cancer, ironically, also brings a ray of hope. Read the rest of this entry »