image: Stephen Albert Johnston, PhD, director of the institute’s Center for Innovations in Medicine, will focus his research project on developing a breast cancer vaccine. Johnston is one of only two recipients in the nation bestowed with a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the Department of Defense's Innovator Award, funded through its Breast Cancer Research Program. view more
Credit: ASU
Biodesign Institute researchers have received nearly $9 million in grants to develop a preventive vaccine against cancer.
Stephen Albert Johnston, PhD, director of the institute’s Center for Innovations in Medicine, will focus his research project on breast cancer. Johnston is one of only two recipients in the nation bestowed with a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the Department of Defense’s Innovator Award, funded through its Breast Cancer Research Program. His Biodesign research colleague, Douglas Lake, PhD, will lead a three-year $1.2 million project from the W. M. Keck Foundation to take the basic technology and see whether it could be applied to several other forms of cancer.
The grants mark the first major federal and private awards for such an approach and ramp up a cancer research collaborative initiative with the Mayo Clinic.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S., with an estimated 1.45 million cases of cancer diagnosed this year. More than 560,000 people will die from the disease.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in women. The Department of Defense, using appropriations from a congressionally directed medical research program, has sought to eradicate breast cancer by funding innovative, high-impact research through a partnership of scientists and consumers. The Innovator Award recognizes individuals who have a "history of visionary scholarship, leadership and creativity."
“Breast cancer’s course is often long and devastating and, despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, one in five women still succumb to the disease,” said Johnston. “It’s time to fundamentally rethink how we approach this problem. Our goal, based on some promising preliminary results, is to see if we can make a vaccine that would be given to all adult women to prevent the occurrence of breast cancer”
Johnston notes that the most successful medical intervention in history has been the development of vaccines against infectious disease. “Developing a cancer vaccine would be the perfect solution, not only in eliminating cancer mortality, but also potentially some of the costs of diagnosis and treatment.”
The W.M. Keck Foundation Award will further push the boundaries of cancer vaccine research by laying the groundwork for breakthrough discoveries to broaden the team’s approach to other cancers.
“It’s been well-established that cancers create foreign proteins that the immune system can recognize,” said Douglas Lake, who will lead the Keck Foundation project. “If we could pre-immunize an individual with a collection of proteins that effectively represent any foreign protein that a breast tumor would produce, the immune system would arm itself against breast cancer,” said Lake. “And, if the platform technology proves successful, it could be applied to other cancers.”
The Biodesign Institute duo will lead a highly interdisciplinary team of scientists and clinicians, which involves renowned collaborators from other institutions including: Laurence Miller, MD, Mayo Clinic director for research and Richard Smith, PhD, chief scientist at Pacific Northwest National Labs.
The research team, utilizing the latest advances in genomics, proteomics and immunology, wants to find a number of common signatures that occur across a wide spectrum of breast tumors.
“This has truly been a collaborative effort, with significant contributions from both organizations,” according to Miller. “I am thrilled that this is going forward, and am also pleased to see this important project launching our joint efforts in the Mayo Clinic/ASU Center for Cancer-related Convergence, Cooperation and Collaboration (MAC5).”
The research work will be performed at the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Innovations in Medicine and Mayo Clinic’s new Collaborative Research Building. This project is the first major initiative undertaken under the MAC5 umbrella partnership. Earlier, the organizations invested seed funds including private funding from Mayo and ASU funding made possible by the Arizona voter-approved, Proposition 301 Technology Research and Infrastructure Fund (TRIF). The funds allowed Johnston’s team to launch the project and obtain the initial supportive data. Space has been allocated at research facilities at the Biodesign Institute and on the Scottsdale campus of Mayo Clinic, with additional faculty and clinicians being hired to support the project.
To find common elements in breast cancer and other tumors, the research team will use patient and normal samples from extensive tissue banks at the Mayo Clinic. The team will develop new techniques to identify small protein fragments, or peptides, found in breast cancer cell lines and primary tumors. “The key is that these peptides have to trigger an immune response against breast tumors but not in normal cells,” said Johnston.
Johnston knows demonstrating their approach will be a significant challenge. But he has been encouraged by recent mouse studies in his lab, which have identified peptides that have shown protection against breast cancer. Lake is advancing these preliminary mouse studies by identifying peptides from human tumors that are candidates for a cancer vaccine.
“We believe the technology and knowledge base now exists to determine whether or not this idea is feasible,” said Johnston. “If we are successful in our approach, we hope to bring a vaccine candidate to clinical trials by the end of the grant period.”
The Biodesign Institute at ASU
The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University is focused on innovations that improve health care; provide renewable sources of energy and clean our environment; outpace the global threat of infectious disease; and enhance national security. Using a team approach that converges the biosciences with nanoscale engineering and advanced computing, the goal is to find solutions to complex global challenges and accelerate these discoveries to market. The institute also educates future scientists by providing hands-on laboratory research for more than 250 students per semester. For information, visit www.biodesign.asu.edu
Mayo Clinic Cancer Center
Mayo Clinic Cancer Center is one of only 38 U.S. medical centers that have been named as a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive Cancer Center. To receive this designation, an institution must meet rigorous standards demonstrating clinical excellence in treating cancer patients and scientific excellence in its research programs. Mayo Clinic Cancer Center is ranked by the NCI as one of the top 10 cancer centers in the nation, and is the only national, multi-site center with the NCI’s Comprehensive Cancer Center designation. In Arizona, Mayo’s clinical and research experts work together to address the complex needs of cancer patients, with a dedication to understanding the biology of cancer; discovering new ways to predict, prevent, diagnose and treat cancer; and transforming the quality of life for cancer patients today and in the future.
The W. M. Keck Foundation
Based in Los Angeles, the W. M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 by the late W. M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company. The Foundation’s grant making is focused primarily on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science and engineering. The Foundation also maintains a program to support undergraduate science and humanities education and a Southern California Grant Program that provides support in the areas of health care, civic and community services, education and the arts, with a special emphasis on children.
Media Contacts:
Biodesign Institute at ASU
Joe Caspermeyer
480-727-0369
Mayo Clinic Arizona
Lynn Closway
480-301-4222