Pancreatic cancer is the most lethal cancer on earth. The number of new cases per year roughly equals the number of deaths per year. Of the 30,000 Americans who discover they have pancreatic cancer in 2005, greater than 95 percent will die within a few years of diagnosis.
These grim statistics discourage most clinicians and researchers from working on pancreatic cancer. That’s why UNMC researchers Tony Hollingsworth, Ph.D., and Surinder Batra, Ph.D., have dedicated their careers to studying cancer of the pancreas.
The UNMC scientists have been awarded a $3.3 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, to make earlier diagnosis of pancreatic cancer a reality.
Drs. Hollingsworth and Batra are two of many investigators at UNMC who received a total of more than $17 million in research grants in the last three months of 2004. That’s a 76 percent increase over the same period in 2003.
“This is a remarkable accomplishment for our researchers,” said Vice Chancellor for Research Thomas Rosenquist, Ph.D. “We’re well on our way to reaching the $100 million mark in annual research funding. At our present pace, we hope to reach $100 million within the next year or two.
“It’s much easier to sustain research funding through renewals and new grants once you reach the $100 million level.”
Dr. Hollingsworth said part of his research focuses on developing a different blood test to detect a protein produced by pancreatic cancer, with the goal of catching this deadly cancer earlier. Other efforts by this group are directed toward developing new therapies and furthering the understanding of why pancreatic cancer is highly lethal.
“Patients should have hope and take comfort in the fact that there are researchers who care,” Dr. Hollingsworth said.
Even though as a researcher, Dr. Hollingsworth is not in the clinic with patients, he speaks to pancreatic cancer patients and families as part of a Pancreatic Cancer Advocacy and Support Network.
“I sincerely hope that the efforts of my research group will make a difference, especially that patients with pancreatic cancer will live longer, more comfortable lives,” he said.
Some of the other major grants UNMC received in the last quarter of 2004 include:
- A $196,602 grant to Oksana Lockridge, Ph.D., Eppley Institute, to study the biochemical markers for exposure to low doses of organophosphorus insecticides.
- A grant totaling $275,625 to J. Graham Sharp, Ph.D., genetics, cell biology & anatomy, to study the quality of stem cells as we age.
- A $330,750 grant to Claudia Kappen, Ph.D., genetics, cell biology & anatomy, to study the risk of birth defects in children of diabetic mothers.
- $198,450 was awarded to Rakesh Singh, Ph.D., pathology and microbiology, to study the molecular regulation of human melanoma metastasis.