University of Colorado Denver
W I N T E R 2 011
13001 East 17th Place, MSF434 Aurora, CO 80045-0511
www.coloradocancercenter.org
RETUR N S ER V I C E RE Q UE S TED
C3: Collaborating to Conquer Cancer Published twice a year by University of Colorado Denver for friends, members and the community of the University of Colorado Cancer Center. (No research money has been used for this publication.) Editor: Lynn G. Clark | 303-724-3160 | Lynn.Clark@ucdenver.edu Contributing Writers: Kim Chriscaden, Garth Sundem Photos: Lynn Clark, Glenn Asakawa, Nicole Kofoed, Ronald White Design: EnZed Design The CU Cancer Center Consortium Members Universities
Colorado State University University of Colorado Boulder University of Colorado Denver Institutions
University of Colorado Hospital Children’s Hospital Colorado National Jewish Health Denver Health Medical Center Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center Kaiser Permanente Colorado Visit us on the web: www.coloradocancercenter.org The CU Cancer Center is dedicated to equal opportunity and access in all aspects of employment and patient care.
T H E
M E S S A G E
40 years after the war on cancer began, I feel more hopeful than ever for my patients
A
s a cancer surgeon, I know how critical it is to remove
and understand the planets in Orion’s belt. Concepts that were
every last bit of cancer from my patient’s body. The more
once just specs of light in a far mysterious distance are now real,
that is left behind, the more likely it is that the cancer will
understandable and world-changing.
return. As a cancer biologist, I also know how critical it is to know
I believe we are in a perfect storm of technology, knowledge
exactly what errant genes or proteins are causing the tumors to
and communication. As you’ll read in this issue of Collaborating
grow and spread so they can be targeted with drugs that stop
to Conquer Cancer, in Colorado we are making specific and
those errant actions.
giant leaps forward through discoveries that only come from this
I also know that there is a fine balance between too much
storm, and from leveraging the enormous pool of talent, experi-
healthy tissue removed, or too many healthy cells dying, in the race to cure the patient. We often throw around the term person-
FROM THE DIRECTOR Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD
alized medicine, and yet we assume that everyone knows what we’re talking about. The obvious definition in cancer is finding the treatment that takes advantage of an individual patient’s tumor characteristics, including the genes and proteins, the tumor environment and other mechanisms at play, to kill the cancer. Integral to this success also requires a fundamental understanding of the host—
ence and knowledge assembled in our 442 cancer
“We now have fine-tuned knowledge and technology that allows us to be more precise, to do less harm in saving a patient’s life.”
the normal organism that harbors the cancer. This knowledge is important in such aspects as harnessing the immune system to kill
center members across the state. Our cancer center represents the majority of the state’s effort in cancer research. Standing behind them: our generous donors, such as Cancer League of Colorado, whose volunteer-driven organization has provided millions of dollars in funding for start-up science projects, and which has just committed to raising $2 million for a new endowed chair in cancer research that will help us recruit an outstanding cancer researcher. Also standing behind them are the remarkable patients
and families who are on this journey with them. Today, we are becoming more precise in our understanding
the cancer as well as understanding how anticancer drugs may be
of the seemingly never-ending mechanisms of cancer as hun-
metabolized (broken down) by the patient.
dreds of individual diseases. We are becoming more precise in
Forty years ago when the National Cancer Institute was
how we use that knowledge to personalize treatment for every
formed, cancer treatment was in an era of cut it all out, give the
patient. And we are becoming more precise in how we test for
highest doses of chemotherapies possible or almost killing the
disease in the first place.
patient to save the patient. Four decades later, we now have
Forty years after cancer became a war, I feel more hope than
fine-tuned knowledge and technology that allows us to be more
ever for my patients and for cancer patients all around the world
precise, to do less harm in saving a patient’s life. If we could
that we will prevail in this fight in our lifetimes.
see and understand the moon back in 1971, today we can see
20 www.coloradocancercenter.org