Jonnson Center gets $11.5 million grant
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 15, 2002 9:00 p.m.
The prostate cancer program at UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer
Center recently received a $11.5 million grant from the National
Cancer Institute for its research on prostate cancer.
The program, which studies the prevention, detection and
treatment of prostate cancer, was designated as a Specialized
Program of Research Excellence.
“The grant provides major recognition for UCLA and their
overall prostate research program,” said Dr. William Aronson,
associate clinical professor in the UCLA Department of Urology.
In the proposal submitted to the National Cancer Institute for
overview, the Jonsson Center provided the description of five major
prostate cancer research projects. One of the projects focuses on
determining whether a correlation exists between prevention of
prostate cancer and a low-fat diet supplemented by the fat found in
fish oil.
The SPORE grant will provide funding for the clinical trial of
patients with prostate cancer to undergo a specific low-fat diet
prepared by chefs at the cancer center. The trial will be led by
several UCLA doctors, including Aronson.
“We’re going to be studying their prostate tissue
and serum to see if the fish oil diet impacts the growth factors in
the prostate tissue that affect cancer growth,” he said.
Researchers will also use part of the grant money to further
their study on the effects of the drug rapamycin on human
patients.
The drug has been shown to slow the growth of prostate cancer in
laboratory mice and researchers are anxious to determine whether it
has the same effects on humans.
“The goal of this whole thing is to understand how
laboratory discoveries work and eventually take them to
patients,” Reiter said.
Through these and other projects, The Jonsson Cancer Center
hopes to pull together a collaboration of clinicians from other
universities as well as post-doctorate researchers interested in
the topic of prostate cancer.
“Because we will have clinical trials from research,
hopefully that will attract young investigators to take positions
here,” Reiter said. “It will … help grow the field
here at UCLA.”
The SPORE will not only bring together cancer researchers, but
it also places emphasis on connecting research with carrying out
treatment.
“The hope is that this type of grant will bridge the gap
between the basic research lab and patient care,” said Robert
Reiter, associate professor in the urology department and
co-director of the prostate cancer program.
Dr. Judith Gasson, director of the Jonsson Center and professor
of medicine and biological chemistry believes that the grant is a
recognition of the potential impact of the research being done.
“We’ll be able to move forward more quickly now to
develop new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat prostate
cancer with the goal of saving tens of thousands of lives every
year,” she said in a statement.
The Jonsson Cancer Center is the only prostate cancer SPORE in
Southern California, and one of nine in the United States.
“This grant ties into a network of other SPOREs around the
country and gives us access to research done elsewhere,”
Reiter said.
Other university cancer research centers have been designated as
SPOREs for other types of cancer research.
The University of California at San Francisco was named a SPORE
for ovarian cancer research. The University of Arizona and the
University of Texas were recognized for gastro-intestinal cancer
and ovarian cancer respectively.
