Overview

The overall goal of this program is to emphasize scientific paradigms focused on treatment of local / regional disease, with the ultimate objective of achieving long term control of such tumors, while maintaining normal tissue integrity.  The paradigm is being approached two ways:  1) Therapeutic approaches to increase tumor response or reduce normal tissue damage, and 2) Development of diagnostic methods to predict outcome or guide therapeutic decisions before or during treatment.  The fact that radiation therapy is used as part of therapy for nearly all forms of cancer means that the clinical collaborations are varied and multidisciplinary.  Members cross many disciplines, including molecular biology and signal transduction, transgenic model development, physiology, angiogenesis, hyperthermia, engineering, drug carrier development, imaging, radiation biology and clinical trial development and conduct.  This program is centered in a clinical department, which helps to focus efforts toward translational studies.  The program has incorporated MR and CT/PET imaging capabilities into research activities with the acquisition of this hardware for research purposes.  Several protocols now include opportunities for direct acquisition of tissues and / or plasma samples that can be used for correlative science investigations.  Significant improvement has been made in the basic science component of the program, with successful recruitment of clinical faculty with interests in transgenic models of human cancer and in translational studies involving breast cancer radiotherapy.  The program sponsors several venues for interaction, offered on a bi-weekly to yearly basis to facilitate collaborations within and with other programs.  Since the last competing renewal, members of this program have published 424 peer reviewed papers; over 90% of which have been directly related to cancer.  Nearly 50% of the publications have involved inter- or intra- programmatic collaborations. The patient census has grown by 35%, from 978 treatment starts in 2004 to well over 1300 in 2007.  The percentage of patients enrolled on protocols has averaged just over 6%. Accrual of minorities and women has averaged 18% and 57%, respectively.  Clinical trial and grants management infrastructure has been substantially improved, which is paying dividends with respect to easing initiation of new investigator initiated trials. The Program includes 24 members from 5 basic and clinical departments.

High-Impact Journal Publications

Below are recent publications in high-impact journals from Cancer Center members in this program. To see journal articles for a particular member, click on the researcher's name in the Membership section.

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Crane CH,Winter K,Regine WF,Safran H,Rich TA,Curran W,Wolff RA,Willett CG. Phase II study of bevacizumab with concurrent capecitabine and radiation followed by maintenance gemcitabine and bevacizumab for locally advanced pancreatic cancer: Radiation Therapy Oncology Group RTOG 0411., , (4096-102) - Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Abstract [More ...]

Gao W,Liu W,Mackay JA,Zalutsky MR,Toone EJ,Chilkoti A. In situ growth of a stoichiometric PEG-like conjugate at a protein's N-terminus with significantly improved pharmacokinetics., . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abstract [More ...]

Willett CG,Duda DG,di Tomaso E,Boucher Y,Ancukiewicz M,Sahani DV,Lahdenranta J,Chung DC,Fischman AJ,Lauwers GY,Shellito P,Czito BG,Wong TZ,Paulson E,Poleski M,Vujaskovic Z,Bentley R,Chen HX,Clark JW,Jain RK. Efficacy, safety, and biomarkers of neoadjuvant bevacizumab, radiation therapy, and fluorouracil in rectal cancer: a multidisciplinary phase II study., , (3020-6) - Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Abstract [More ...]

Ajani JA,Winter KA,Gunderson LL,Pedersen J,Benson AB 3rd,Thomas CR Jr,Mayer RJ,Haddock MG,Rich TA,Willett CG. US intergroup anal carcinoma trial: tumor diameter predicts for colostomy., , (1116-21) - Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Abstract [More ...]

Niedre MJ,de Kleine RH,Aikawa E,Kirsch DG,Weissleder R,Ntziachristos V. Early photon tomography allows fluorescence detection of lung carcinomas and disease progression in mice in vivo., . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abstract [More ...]

Petiet AE,Kaufman MH,Goddeeris MM,Brandenburg J,Elmore SA,Johnson GA. High-resolution magnetic resonance histology of the embryonic and neonatal mouse: a 4D atlas and morphologic database., , (12331-6) - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Abstract [More ...]

Anders CK,Hsu DS,Broadwater G,Acharya CR,Foekens JA,Zhang Y,Wang Y,Marcom PK,Marks JR,Febbo PG,Nevins JR,Potti A,Blackwell KL. Young age at diagnosis correlates with worse prognosis and defines a subset of breast cancers with shared patterns of gene expression., , (3324-30) - Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Abstract [More ...]

Brizel DM,Murphy BA,Rosenthal DI,Pandya KJ,Glück S,Brizel HE,Meredith RF,Berger D,Chen MG,Mendenhall W. Phase II study of palifermin and concurrent chemoradiation in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma., , (2489-96) - Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Abstract [More ...]

Marks LB,Zeng J,Prosnitz LR. One to three versus four or more positive nodes and postmastectomy radiotherapy: time to end the debate., , (2075-7) - Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology No abstract available [More ...]

Lin NU,Carey LA,Liu MC,Younger J,Come SE,Ewend M,Harris GJ,Bullitt E,Van den Abbeele AD,Henson JW,Li X,Gelman R,Burstein HJ,Kasparian E,Kirsch DG,Crawford A,Hochberg F,Winer EP. Phase II trial of lapatinib for brain metastases in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive breast cancer., , (1993-9) - Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Abstract [More ...]

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Click here for these and other high-impact publications in this research program.