SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. July12, 2012 The Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation has awarded $10 million in grants for two groundbreaking brain cancer research projects at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).
One $five-million-project is titled "Outliers in Glioblastoma Outcome: Moving the curve forward." This five-year investigation seeks to discover why approximately two percent of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients the outliers live far beyond the average survival time of 18 months. GBM is the most common and aggressive form of malignant primary brain tumor; 98 percent of people diagnosed with GBM live less than 18 months.
"A major challenge with brain cancer is that people survive such a short time," said Catherine (Bracken) Ivy, founder and president of The Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation. "If this research enables patients to live longer, clinicians and researchers will gain a better understanding of how this disease works, which will bring us time to move closer to a cure."
"The tireless and dedicated support of programs like the Ivy Foundation is helping transform ideas into medical reality," said TGen President and Research Director Dr. Jeffrey Trent.
By precisely identifying the billions of molecular building blocks in each patient's DNA through whole genome sequencing, TGen researchers hope to discover the genetic differences between those patients who survive only a few months, and those who survive longer because their brain cancer develops more slowly.
Using these genetic targets, TGen researchers will identify those patients most likely to benefit from the current standard of care, and those who might best benefit from alternative or new experimental treatments.
"If we can identify patients who will likely only survive a few months on current standard of care regimens we can then prioritize those patients for personalized clinical trials," said Dr. David Craig, TGen's deputy direct
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| Contact: Steve Yozwiak syozwiak@tgen.org 602-343-8704 The Translational Genomics Research Institute Source:Eurekalert |