“We’re in this for the long haul. If it doesn’t work the first time, we don’t give up. And, of course, we can’t overemphasize the importance of our generous donors. It is their support that makes it possible to do this work and to keep trying these novel things.” —ELIZABETH JAFFEE
to protect it from the immune system. Without attacking the cancers many mechanisms, the investigators know that the vaccine will never be fully effective against the disease. Yet another attempt to strengthen the vaccine includes another live bacterium listeria. “It’s pretty wimpy,” says Schulick. “If you eat bleu cheese dressing, you have been exposed.” In fact, listeria is almost everywhere and resides throughout the GI tract. For most people, it is harmless, and the version the pancreatic cancer team is using is even more so because they have genetically engineered it to remove the nasty genes. So far, they have treated nine patients with no adverse effects. In two patients whose cancer had not responded to any other therapies, biomarkers indicative of the pancreatic cancer have declined. And, Jaffee notes, these patients did not even receive the maximum dose of the vaccine. The team is now looking at whether the vaccine can prevent cancer in high risk patients and if it may help colon cancer patients with liver metastases. “You almost have to be willing to stake a career on your research,” says Jaffee referring to the vaccine studies she began in 1991. And, that is exactly what she did. To make vaccine therapy a reality, Jaffee became an expert in vaccine manufacturing, opening a GMP facility (good manufacturing processes) at the Kimmel Cancer Center to make the vaccine and learning the huge compendium of FDA regulations. “We’re in this for the long haul,” says Jaffee. “If it doesn’t work the first time, we don’t give up. And, of course, we can’t overemphasize the importance of our generous donors. It is their support that makes it possible to do this work and to keep trying these novel things.”
At the Kimmel Cancer Center, however, we are catching up with the help of philanthropic support. Peter Kovler, Chairman of the Board of the Blum Kovler Foundation, had for some time supported Kern’s research. His mother and grandfather died of pancreatic cancer years UNDERWRITING THE WORLD’S LARGEST GENE STUDY J A N E G O L D M A N H A S A H I S TO R Y of pancreatic cancer
in her family. She also has a history of using her family’s resources to make a difference in cancer treatment and other human causes. She has combined both of these passions to help Johns Hopkins cancer researchers and clinicians make progress against pancreatic cancer, a lethal cancer and one where advances have been hampered due to funding limitations. Though pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States, less than one percent of the National Cancer Institute’s budget goes to research of this cancer. Jane’s mother Lillian died of pancreatic cancer in 2002. Although her mother was never treated at Johns Hopkins, Jane, trustee of the Sol Goldman Charitable Trust, recognized Hopkins as a place that was doing pioneering research and making clinical advances. In 2005, she and her family donated $10 million to establish the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at Johns Hopkins. “By partnering with this team of Johns Hopkins scientists, we hope to attract new faculty and young researchers into this less studied field of research,” says Jane. “This research center fits into my parents’ understanding of what it took to build an enterprise that could grow beyond any one lifetime. We predict that its results will benefit future generations of pancreatic cancer patients.”
SOMETIMES IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY
While the Kimmel Cancer Center has led the way in successful attacks against the lethal cancer, Jaffee says there is still a lot of ground to cover, and it all comes down to funding. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most underfunded cancers, according to experts. Because it is relatively rare, it does not attract the attention from the public or the research world that other cancers like prostate, breast, and colon cancers do. What’s more, pancreatic cancer patients don’t usually survive their disease, so there aren’t enough of them to form activist groups or speak out and demand the attention that’s needed. “We are so far behind in understanding the biology of this cancer compared to breast or prostate cancer,” Jaffee says.
The Goldman family’s generosity continues. The Sol Goldman Charitable Trust and the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust are the lead funders for a pancreatic cancer genome study, the largest cancer gene study ever conducted. “In addition to performing the most complete genetic analysis of any tumor type, this effort will lay the groundwork for uncharted areas of pancreatic cancer research,” says Ralph Hruban, director of the Goldman Center. “With support from the Goldman Trust, our team of young and established researchers will advance our understanding of this cancer. Our hope is that the discoveries made by this team will also benefit patients fighting other forms of cancer.”
Fall 2008 —Winter 2009 I PROMISE AND PROGRESS
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