The next big thing in brain cancer treatment might be very, very small
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rain cancer is among the most difficult malignancies to treat. Physician-scientists at the University of Chicago Medicine are researching innovative ways to make treatment easier. Maciej S. Lesniak, MD, director of neuro-oncology research at the University of Chicago Medicine, is collaborating with scientists at the University of Chicago’s Center for Nanoscale Materials and the Materials Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory on a novel therapy that uses magnetic nanoparticles to destroy cancer cells. And Bakhtiar Yamini, MD, assistant professor of surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine, collaborated with a Nebraska biotechnology company to design a nanoparticle “shell” capable of selectively targeting therapeutics to brain tumor cells. Lesniak recently was awarded a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to begin testing the nanomagnetic therapy in animal models. “There have been advances in therapy for brain cancer, but they haven’t been significant enough to make a tremendous difference in terms of extending life,” Lesniak said. Lesniak and his team are at the forefront of research with a total of $13 million in NIH grants to study brain tumor treatments, including gene therapy, immunotherapy and neural stem cells. The nanomedicine technique developed by the University of Chicago Medicine and Argonne scientists uses magnetic
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Donald F. Steiner, MD, discovers the proinsulin molecule, paving the way for the first synthetic insulin.
microdiscs so tiny that calling them “microscopic” would be an exaggeration. Antibodies attached to the microdiscs are capable of recognizing brain cancer cells. Once the discs reach their targets, a weak magnetic field — about the same strength as a refrigerator magnet — is applied to the cancer cells. The discs start to rotate, which severely disrupts the cell functions. The cancer cells self-destruct. In theory, this therapy is potentially less toxic than the standard weapons to treat brain cancer, such as radiation and chemotherapy, which work by damaging cancer cells’ DNA but also harm healthy cells. “The great thing about this approach is it changes the mindset from trying to use pharmaceutical agents to do something to a cell to actually damaging the cell in a mechanical fashion,” Lesniak said. Yamini’s NIH-funded research with nanoparticles, meanwhile, essentially tags the particles so physicians will be able to monitor their path in the desired area of the brain by MRI. “People have previously used both targeting and image guidance in the treatment of other cancers, but bringing these two strategies together in one vehicle is something that would be really useful,” Yamini said. If testing of the nanoparticle delivery system is successful in animal models, the next step is a clinical trial for dogs with brain tumors whose owners decide to volunteer their sick pets in order to receive a leading-edge treatment.
A doctor-patient relationship inspired one of the largest donations ever pledged to the University of Chicago Medicine. The Matthew and Carolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation is giving $42 million to the University of Chicago to create a unique program to improve doctor-patient communication. The Bucksbaums’ longtime physician, Mark Siegler, MD, will lead the initiative. “Our doctor, Mark Siegler, showed us what good doctoring involved, and it was just as much about compassion and communication as his outstanding clinical competence,” Carolyn “Kay” Bucksbaum said. “In Dr. Siegler, I have had a doctor who is interested in my husband and me as persons, not just diseases, although we’ve confronted him with a few of them. I have so valued that. A special mark of Dr. Siegler’s character is his extreme kindness and interest in what makes us tick.” The Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence will train medical students, junior faculty members and senior clinicians to serve as role models and mentors in communication and shared decision making. According to a 2001 study by the Commonwealth Fund, one in five U.S. adults had trouble communicating with doctors and one in 10 felt they had been treated disrespectfully during a recent health care visit. Kay Bucksbaum hopes the Bucksbaum Institute will address this problem by becoming a clinical and teaching model nationwide, emulated by other academic medical centers. “This is a transformative gift, the kind that has an impact sustained over generations,” said Holly J. Humphrey, MD, dean for medical education at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
uchospitals.edu/physicians/maciej-lesniak.html uchospitals.edu/physicians/bakhtiar-yamini.html
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Janet Rowley, MD, identifies the first chromosomal abnormality in leukemia, leading to the recognition of the genetic basis of cancer. In 2009, Rowley receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor bestowed in the U.S.
World’s first successful living-donor liver transplant.
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1999
First successful heart-liver-kidney transplant.
Bruce A. Beutler, MD, a 1981 graduate of the Pritzker School of Medicine, wins the Nobel Prize, becoming one of 87 Nobel laureates associated with the University of Chicago.
Archival Photograph Files, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
uchospitals.edu
uchicagokidshospital.org
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