Damon Runyon News

Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘00-‘05) and colleagues at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, reported that the drug daclizumab (Zenapax) improved the survival of breast cancer patients taking a cancer vaccine by 30 percent (seven months), compared to those patients not taking the drug. Daclizumab, approved for use in preventing transplant rejection, targets Tregs (regulatory T cells) that normally prevent the immune system from detecting and attacking tumors.

A team of scientists from the Broad Institute, Cambridge, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, led by Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘95-‘98) and Todd R. Golub, MD (Innovation Award Committee Member, Board Member) sequenced the whole genomes of 25 metastatic melanoma tumors. Analysis of these sequences indicated that the rates of genetic mutation rose along with chronic sun exposure in patients. As expected, the scientists detected known mutations in genes that regulate cell growth.

Election to the National Academy of Sciences is one of the highest honors that can be earned by a U.S. scientist. In recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original biomedical research, three Damon Runyon alumni were inducted this May:
Rachel D. Green, PhD (Fellow ‘93-‘96, Current Innovation Award Committee, Fellowship Sponsor), Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore

MCL1 encodes a protein that helps keep cells alive (anti-apoptotic); it is frequently overexpressed in cancer. Joseph T. Opferman, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘01-‘04) and colleagues at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, reported that different forms of MCL-1 reside in distinct locations in the cell’s mitochondria and exhibit separable functions. One form is anti-apoptotic, while a newly identified form that works inside the mitochondria is involved in energy production and is probably essential for tumor cell survival.

Sujun Hua, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘10-‘13), Costas A. Lyssiotis, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘10-‘13), Ji-Hye Paik, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘06-‘08) and colleagues at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, discovered a new role for the Kras oncogene in controlling cell metabolism. They reported that a genetic mutation in Kras linked to initiation of pancreatic cancer also manipulates metabolic pathways to support tumor growth and progression.

Guo Wei, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘05-‘08), Todd R. Golub, MD (Innovation Award Committee Member, Board Member) and colleagues at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Broad Institute, Cambridge, used chemical genomics to identify compounds that decrease activity of MCL1, a protein that helps keep cells alive (anti-apoptotic) and is frequently overexpressed in cancer. In addition, the researchers found that high expression of another gene, BCL-xL, confers resistance to MCL1 repression.

Scott A. Armstrong, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08) of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston, and colleagues, reported the role of a protein called β-catenin in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) stem cells. They demonstrated that reducing β-catenin in combination with treatment with Gleevec/imatinib decreases CML stem cells in mice, without harming healthy cells. These findings, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, suggest that this combination therapy may prevent recurrence of AML disease in patients. 

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) named Damon Runyon Scientists recipients of awards that recognize their scientific achievements and significant contributions to the understanding, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cancer. John Mendelsohn, MD (Damon Runyon Grantee ‘72-‘74 and former Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award Committee Member) of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, was honored with the AACR Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research.

Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08) of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues, reported the results of a unique single-patient study, in which a melanoma patient was treated with the immunotherapeutic Yervoy in combination with local radiation to the site of one tumor.  Metastatic tumors all over the body disappeared. This phenomenon, called the abscopal effect, occurs only rarely; researchers believe that it occurs because radiation may help stimulate the immune system to fight cancer.

Elaine V. Fuchs, PhD (Damon Runyon Board Member, Damon Runyon Fellow ‘77-‘79) of The Rockefeller University, New York, has been named a recipient of the 2012 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology. She will share the award with Howard Green, MD, of Harvard Medical School, Boston. The prize recognizes their revolutionary research in skin biology, which explains the molecular underpinnings of skin stem cells and inherited skin disorders, including cancers and certain birth defects.