|
Importance of Cancer Prevention.
It is increasingly clear that states of abnormal cell growth and death regulation are found in a wide variety of disease states including cancer. The impact on mortality of these diseases is clear as cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States (American Cancer Society). Since 1990, over 12 million cases of cancer have been diagnosed with associated medical costs estimated at $107 billion/year. Any substantive progress in research in these areas will aid in designing preventive strategies and improve the quality of life for those suffering from these diseases as well as reduce the associated health care costs. Understanding the role of nutrients in regulation of cell growth and death decisions will clearly aid in designing recommendations to prevent specific diseases.
It has been suggested that nutrients play a prominent role in cancer prevention, but how they regulate cellular growth, differentiation and death is still unclear. For example, colorectal cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer diagnosed each year in the US and as many as 35% of those diagnosed die of this disease. Although many of these cases are the result of an inherited propensity to develop tumors, a majority of the risk is a result of “environmental” causes.
Cancer prevention research in the Department of Foods and Nutrition has been ongoing from many years, however recently the strength of this area has grown. The number of faculty involved in cancer related projects has increased, and the research direction of a new faculty hire in to the Department will be cancer prevention. In addition, the overall environment at Purdue is conducive to enhancing Cancer Prevention as a signature area, with other INP faculty and the unique Purdue Cancer Center. The impression of our department is that only 1 or 2 nutrition departments as a whole are known nationally for their research in cancer prevention. Therefore, there is a gap that Purdue’s Foods and Nutrition Department is poised to fill.
Contributors in the Department
Kim Buhman
John Burgess
Jim Fleet
Dorothy Morre
Dennis Savaiano
Dorothy Teegarden
Jon Story
Active Research Projects
Role of ceramide metabolism in cellular resistance to apoptosis
1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D regulation of apoptosis
1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D regulation of angiogenesis
Diet, vitamin D status, and prostate cancer prevention
Soy oligosaccharides and intestinal health
Genestein and vitamin D synergism on prostate cells
Vitamin D regulation of colon cancer
Mammalian cellular response
Cancer and polyphenols
Application of movel multiphase separations
Grape extract and cancer
Dietary fiber/cholesterol metabolism
Publications in Last 5 years
Total number of publications (54) or projects (12) with collaborators related to Cancer Prevention signature area
|
Other F&N |
Other Purdue |
IUPUI |
Other |
Publications |
7 |
85 |
20 |
41 |
Research Projects |
8 |
42 |
17 |
33 |
Resources Available
In addition to the excellent laboratory facilities in the department of Foods and Nutrition, other campus wide resources and collaborations are available to further foster the research in cancer prevention.
An important resource on campus is the Purdue Cancer Center. The Cancer Center is one of just eight NCI-designated basic-research Cancer Centers in the United States. The Center is committed to helping cancer patients by identifying new molecular targets and designing future agents and drugs for effectively detecting and treating cancer. In addition, the Indiana Elks Cancer Research Program was established at Purdue University in 1948. Since then, the Indiana Elks Charities, Inc. has provided continual, generous support to the program. In 2002, cumulative donations reached over $2,370,000. The Purdue Cancer Center uses all donations from the Indiana Elks to directly support cancer research, either through the funding of individual and collaborative research grants or the purchase of critical equipment. The core facilities are available to all researchers campus wide.
The Cancer Center's core services include:
Collaborators
Within the Interdepartmental Nutrition Program (INP) a variety of faculty from other departments have projects related to cancer prevention. The INP faculty are readily available collaborators to enhance the current projects and to develop new projects.
Established collaborations exist between Dorothy Teegarden and Dorothy Morre with members of the Cancer Center.
In addition, the new Dean of Pharmacy John M. Pezzuto has a strong interest in chemoprevention and is interested in strengthening this area campus wide.
Current funding
American Cancer Society
Botanicals
NIH
Potential funding
The funding potential for this area is substantial. Funding sources include American Cancer Society, American Institute of Cancer Research, and National Cancer Institute. There are also numerous private foundations for specific cancers with substantial funding available. The American Cancer Society has recently expressed greater interest in nutrient/dietary components in prevention and treatment of cancers. The American Institute for Cancer Research mission is to fund nutrition related projects. The National Cancer Institute is also an excellent source for funding for nutrient related projects in cancer prevention as evidenced by the existence of the Nutrition Science Research Group within the Division of Cancer Prevention headed byJohn Milner, a well known nutrition/cancer researcher. Finally, the Purdue Cancer Center funds projects on campus specifically related to cancer. These funds are generally intended to support new and innovative preliminary research projects and a goal is to foster interdisciplinary collaborations. Thus the potential funding for cancer prevention is substantial, and the departmental strengths with the continued develop will be able to take advantage of these funding sources.
|
