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Cancer Moonshot Milestones

$1 Million Estate Gift to Benefit Breast Cancer Research at UAMS Cancer Institute

May 3, 2018 | LITTLE ROCK – A $1 million gift from the estate of Linda Garner Riggs to the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will be used to advance research of triple negative breast cancer. Riggs, who died in Nov. 2017, was a former Arkansas insurance commissioner and managing director at Stephens Inc.

“This gift will have long-lasting effects on UAMS’ ability to help women living with breast cancer. We are grateful to Mrs. Riggs for this transforming gift, which provides vital funds for our ongoing initiative for cancer research,” said UAMS Interim Chancellor Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D.

A native of Fordyce, Riggs worked about 10 years in state government, serving as director of the research and committee staff of the Arkansas Legislature; legislative and budgetary director for Gov. Frank White; and insurance commissioner. She later joined Stephens Inc. where she worked for 25 years in corporate finance and as managing director of investment banking.

“Linda lived an exemplary life, and I was so privileged to know her and be her partner in it. She was a wonderful example and role model to anyone who wanted to become a better person,” said her husband, Lamar Riggs of Little Rock.

“We are honored and humbled that Mrs. Riggs designated the UAMS Cancer Institute as a recipient for this generous gift from her estate. Her foresight and dedication to the importance of cancer research will enable us to expand our efforts at understanding the causes of and improving the treatments for women with triple negative breast cancer and will move us closer to achieving National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation,” said Cancer Institute Director Peter Emanuel, M.D. Emanuel also serves as professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Division of Hematology.

NCI-designated cancer centers are recognized for their scientific leadership, resources, and research in basic, clinic and population science. There are 70 designated cancer centers in the United States, and the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute is in the process of pursuing this nationally recognized status.

In triple negative breast cancer, the cancer cells do not contain the hormones estrogen and progesterone or the protein HER2. Therefore, the most common hormonal therapies for breast cancer are not effective for women with this form of the disease, which is often aggressive and likely to spread or return after the initial diagnosis.

Triple negative breast cancer is diagnosed in up to 20 percent of cases and is more likely to occur in younger people, African-Americans, Hispanics and those with the BRCA1 gene mutation.

In appreciation of her gift, Riggs will be honored as a member of the 1879 Society of UAMS, recognizing all individuals who have made estate gifts to the university.

 

UAMS is the state's only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute and Institute for Digital Health & Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS' clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,047 students, 873 medical residents and fellows, and six dental residents. It is the state's largest public employer with more than 11,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children's, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.

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Five Grants Presented to UAMS Cancer Researchers

Jan. 29, 2018 | Five newly awarded grants will assist scientists at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute in their search for new and innovative cancer treatments.

The grants of $10,000 each were presented to young investigators by the Envoys, a volunteer advocacy group of the Cancer Institute Foundation, during their “Doctor is In” reception and research poster showcase Jan. 25.

The grants are made possible by the Envoys’ annual RockStar Lounge fundraiser. This year’s event is set for April 13 at Cajun’s Wharf in Little Rock and will feature a performance by Bon Jovi tribute band Slippery When Wet.

“In an era when research funding has become more and more scarce, we are grateful to the Envoys for providing this essential support for our scientists,” said Cancer Institute Director Peter Emanuel, M.D. “With these start-up funds, they are able to establish the preliminary data needed to secure additional larger grants in the future.”

Recipients of the grants were:

Burdine’s project focuses on a novel approach to regulating a protein known as ATAD2 that is highly expressed in several types of cancer, including breast, pancreas, colon and liver, as well as in metastatic disease. If successful, regulation of the protein could lead to new therapies for these types of cancer.

  • Brendan Frett, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UAMS College of Pharmacy

Precision lung cancer treatment is often effective only for the short term due to significant differences that appear in individual cases of the disease. Frett’s objective is to improve the long-term outcomes of precision lung cancer therapy by simultaneously targeting multiple facets of the disease. He will synthetically engineer single molecule drug candidates capable of impairing multiple tumor survival pathways.

  • Samantha Kendrick, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UAMS College of Medicine

Kendrick’s project focuses on understanding how and why certain genes repeatedly mutate and contribute to the aggressive nature of B-cell lymphoma. Her research examines the frequency of DNA structures in these specific gene targets and whether the structures contribute to an increased susceptibility to mutation. Uncovering this process can facilitate the design of new therapies to minimize the risk of chemotherapy resistant disease.

Although advances in immunotherapy have offered great promise for several types of cancer, outcomes for an aggressive form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma remain grim. Rodriguez’s project uses the surgical technique laser thermal ablation in combination with immunotherapy to alter the immune microenvironment, cause cancer cell death and open the area around the tumor in an effort to improve outcomes for patients with this disease.

Tian’s research addresses the role of two alias proteins produced by the gene MYC in the outcome of patients with multiple myeloma. He seeks to understand how one of these proteins affects the other in regard to cell proliferation and will use this knowledge to deliberately induce a different translation and modification of the gene that could ultimately lead to preventing uncontrollable cancer growth.

UAMS Scientists Awarded Grants for Cancer Research

Jan. 30, 2017 | Three newly awarded grants will assist UAMS scientists in advancing their cancer research projects.

The three grants of $10,000 each were presented to investigators Jan. 26 at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute by the Envoys, a volunteer advocacy group of the Cancer Institute Foundation, during their “Doctor is In” reception and research poster showcase.

The grants are made possible by the Envoys’ annual RockStar Lounge fundraiser. This year’s event is set for April 7 at Cajun’s Wharf in Little Rock and will feature a performance by Resurrection — A Journey Tribute.

“Thanks to the support of the Envoys, our scientists can receive start-up funds to propel their research forward. The preliminary data these funds help establish will assist them in applying for larger grants in the future,” said Cancer Institute Director Peter Emanuel, M.D.

Recipients of the grants were:

  • Gunnar Boysen, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the UAMS College of Public Health for “Targeting Cancer Metabolism to Improve Lung Cancer Therapy”
  • Ping-Ching Hsu, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology in the UAMS College of Public Health for “Metabolomic Profiling from the Arkansas Cardiovascular Health Examination Survey (ARCHES)”
  • Rajan Gogna, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pathology in the UAMS College of Medicine for “Immune-targeting Flower Code, a Key Regulator for Tissue Fitness and Oncogenesis”

Boysen’s research seeks to understand how tumor metabolism contributes to tumor growth. His previous laboratory research has shown that the enzyme glutaminase is essential for production of the antioxidant glutathione (GSH) and growth of lung tumor cells. His grant funding will assist in further determining the importance of GSH in lung tumor cells.

Hsu’s project addresses Arkansas’ high death rate from smoking-related cancers by investigating the metabolic impact from cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products in human blood. Her study aims to provide feasibility data for a larger study representative of adult Arkansans and help inform clinical and community studies to reduce the risk of tobacco-caused diseases.

Gogna’s research focuses on the process called cell competition, during which cancer cells acquire space and nutrition for growth by killing their neighboring cells. During this process, cancer cells and normal cells communicate and compare their relative fitness levels through the help of a protein called Flower. Cancer cells express a form of the Flower protein called Win, while normal cells express a form called Lose. Gogna’s lab now seeks to discover if blocking this Win-Lose interaction between cancer and normal cells can serve as an anti-cancer and chemo-preventative strategy.

In addition to the grant presentation, the event included a research poster showcase in which UAMS cancer researchers displayed posters outlining their work and discussed their findings with guests.