Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center thanks the generous ...

THE IMPACT OF YOUR SUPPORT
CHEFS
~PREMIER~
DIER
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center thanks the generous supporters
of the 2011 Premier Chefs Dinner
Last spring, you had the opportunity to partake in an
evening of palate-pleasing dishes created by local chefs
and expertly paired with magnificent Northwest wines at
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Premier Chefs
Dinner. It was also an opportunity to play an invaluable role
in moving world-class research forward at the Hutchinson
Center.
Private support, including more than $522,000 raised at
the 2011 Premier Chefs Dinner, allows Center investigators
to pursue novel research opportunities that might otherwise
go unrealized. Your contributions have been integral to their
efforts in the area of pancreas cancer research and beyond,
and we are pleased to share with you some of their recent
advances.
Tackling a deadly foe
The most uniformly devastating of all major cancers,
pancreas cancer is notoriously difficult to treat and quickly
lethal for the vast majority of patients. In most cases, tumors
spread too rapidly for surgical removal and are resistant to
even the most potent chemotherapy drugs. New approaches
for battling pancreas cancer are desperately needed.
In 2009, the Hutchinson Center’s Dr. Sunil Hingorani was
part of an international research team that uncovered
certain characteristics of pancreas tumors that contribute to
their drug resistance — and hit on an entirely new strategy
for targeting the disease. The team found that not only is
RESEARCH UPDATE | JANUARY 2012
FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER
DR. SUNIL HINGORANI
pancreas tumor tissue extremely dense — each individual
cancer cell is surrounded by a thick conglomeration of
fibrous proteins — it also possesses an unusually sparse
network of blood vessels. Together, these features insulate
pancreas cancer cells, preventing the chemotherapy from
penetrating and spreading within the tumor.
Dr. Hingorani and his colleagues used their innovative
laboratory model of human pancreas cancer to show that by
blocking production of the cancer cells’ dense surrounding
tissue, they could increase blood flow to the tumor and
significantly improve the chemotherapy’s ability to infiltrate
and destroy the cancer.
With your support, Dr. Hingorani is now building on these
landmark results. He is using the laboratory model to
investigate a promising new method that relies on modified
versions of naturally occurring enzymes to break down
existing tumor tissue and help chemotherapy reach the
cancerous cells inside. In addition to preclinical studies,
Dr. Hingorani is spearheading a global clinical trial of the

THE IMPACT OF YOUR SUPPORT
novel approach that is now enrolling patients with advanced
pancreas cancer. Encouraging data from these initial studies
could lead to the development of a less toxic and potentially
much more effective treatment option for the many
thousands of patients suffering from this deadly disease.
Lifesaving advances
Pancreas cancer isn’t the only field in which our
investigators are leading the way to breakthroughs. Across
the Center, dedicated scientists and staff are leveraging your
support to advance knowledge that will benefit those with
and at risk for cancer.
Progress in understanding breast cancer
In two separate studies, Dr. Amanda Phipps and colleagues
found that giving birth more times, having a higher body
mass index, and being less physically active all increase the
risk of triple-negative breast cancer, a rare but aggressive
disease subtype. Although never giving birth appears to
lower the risk of triple-negative breast cancer, the team
found that women who remain childless have about a 40
percent higher risk of the more common estrogen-receptorpositive
breast cancer. Together, the findings highlight the
fact that breast cancer is really a complex combination of
many diseases, which must all be better understood in order
to enhance prevention, detection and treatment.
Safer therapy for brain cancer patients
Dr. Hans-Peter Kiem and colleagues have developed an
approach that could make chemotherapy safer and more
effective for brain cancer patients. The team introduced a
chemotherapy-resistant gene into cells that give rise to the
bone marrow and blood, which are particularly vulnerable
to the toxic effects of chemotherapy, and then gave those
modified cells to patients with glioblastoma, a terminal form
of brain cancer. The results to date are encouraging. By
shielding patients from side effects that normally limit the
amount of anti-cancer drugs that can be administered, this
novel approach could enable doctors to use existing therapy
more effectively and potentially improve patient survival.
Kate Prael Asgari, Director, Special Events
Tel. 206.667.4919 www.fhcrc.org
Mail Stop J5-200, PO Box 19024, Seattle, WA 98109
DR. HANS-PETER KIEM
Improving cancer survivorship
A decade of work by Center researchers to refine marrow
and stem cell transplantation for patients with blood
cancers has significantly reduced the risk of treatmentrelated
complications and death. A recent study compared
patient outcomes in the mid-‘90s with those a decade later
and revealed a 60 percent reduction in the risk of death
within 200 days of transplant and a 41 percent reduction in
the risk of overall mortality at any time after transplant. The
data show clearly that the collective efforts of our dedicated
researchers have significantly boosted the chances of longterm
survival for our patients.
Thank you
Thank you, Premier Chefs Dinner supporters, for your
generous investment in promising research at the
Hutchinson Center. Your contributions help sustain the
pioneering efforts of our researchers every day as they
endeavor to improve the lives of those with cancer and
related diseases.
>> Save the date
Premier Chefs Dinner
Sunday, May 20, 2012
www.fhcrc.org/chefs