Research Advances - BC Cancer Foundation - A World Free from Cancer

A few of the many advances in prevention and care from research at the BC Cancer Agency

Donors' gifts to the BC Cancer Foundation make a very important contribution to research breakthroughs at the BC Cancer Agency.

Some of the advances that donors have helped to make possible through their donations:

DOUBLE DISCOVERY IN EARLY DETECTION OF ORAL CANCER
2006 - A new study discovers that a special blue dye reveals abnormal oral lesions before they become cancerous; BC Cancer Agency’s Cancer Imaging department creates the VELscope, a hand-held blue-light fluorescence device that detects and reveals pre-cancerous and cancerous oral lesions. Both methods are designed to be used in dentist offices to screen high-risk dental patients for oral cancer.

STEM CELL BREAKTHROUGH ADVANCES UNDERSTANDING OF BREAST CANCER
2006 - First-ever laboratory isolation of stem cells in normal adult mouse breast tissue, led by Dr. Connie Eaves, advances understanding of how breast cancer starts and why some breast cancer cells are more aggressive than others.

BC CANCER AGENCY JOINS NATIONAL RESEARCH DATABASE
2006 - BC Cancer Agency’s tumour tissue repository, headed by Dr. Peter Watson and funded in large part by BC Cancer Foundation donors, becomes part of new national tumour registry and network, available world-wide to scientists as a powerful cancer research tool.

TARGETED DRUG-THERAPY FOR PROSTATE CANCER SHOWS PROMISE
2005 - Results of an initial prostate cancer clinical trial led by BC Cancer Agency oncologist Dr. Kim N. Chi show that a new class of smart drugs called OGX-011, which target cancer cells at the molecular level, significantly reduces the expression of a protein that causes tumours to become resistant to treatment. The next phase of clinical trials is now underway across Canada and the U.S., for prostate, breast and lung cancer patients.

BC CANCER AGENCY LYMPHOMA TREATMENT PROTOCOL INCREASES SURVIVAL BY 50 PER CENT
2005- A new BC Cancer Agency study showed that a treatment protocol tested in B.C. for all patients with the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, increased patient survival rates by 50 per cent. BC Cancer Agency oncologist and study author Dr. Laurie Sehn documented a vast improvement in all patients with this disease in B.C. as a result of this treatment policy, which was supported by endowments created by two major BC Cancer Foundation donors.

FINDINGS ABOUT SHIP PROTEIN
2004 - Agency researchers publish findings in the journal Immunity, about a protein called SHIP, which regulates how we respond to microbial infections and inflammation-inducing agents.

SEQUENCING THE SARS VIRUS
2003 - Scientists at the Agency's Genome Sciences Centre are first in the world to complete the first publicly available draft sequence for a coronavirus implicated in SARS.

LAUNCHING A TISSUE REPOSITORY
2002 - The Agency launches a tissue tumour repository (TTR) - the first research resource of its kind in Canada. The TTR will provide tissue and clinical data related to the tissue to scientists conducting research.

LYMPHOMA
2002 - An experimental lymphoma vaccine using lymphoma patients' own cancer cells is tested for the first time in Canada by researchers at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver. The vaccine is targeted at follicular B-cell lymphoma, the fastest-growing common cancer in North America, considered incurable in most cases.

STEM CELL REPRODUCTION DISCOVERY
2002 - Researchers at the Agency's Terry Fox Laboratory reproduce stem cells of the blood-forming system of adult mice – in large numbers – outside the body. This could offer enormous benefits to patients requiring bone marrow transplants for cancer.

LUNG CANCER PREVENTION
2002 - An ancient Chinese herbal remedy is studied for lung cancer prevention.

IDENTIFYING A TUMOUR SUPPRESSOR GENE
2001 - BC Cancer Agency researchers find a connection between a key tumour suppressor gene and a protein (ILK) that plays a major role in the growth and spread of cancer.

STOMACH CANCER
2001 - Geneticist David Huntsman spearheads an international research collaboration, resulting in a new approach for patients at extreme risk for developing gastric (stomach) cancer - finding that stomach removal may be a preventative option for those with a strong family history of gastric cancer, when genetic testing can prove a cancer risk.

RISING STARS IN GENE SCIENCE
1999 - The BC Cancer Agency's Genome Science Centre hires two stars in gene science to work for Nobel Prize winner Dr. Michael Smith. Drs. Marco Marra and Steven Jones hail from the world's largest gene sequencing facilities in St. Louis, U.S.A. and Cambridge, England.

PROSTATE CANCER & LYMPHOMA
1999 - Clinical trials for prostate cancer and lymphoma begin, dealing a “one-two punch” to the cancer-causing Bcl-2 gene. Patients at the BC Cancer Agency Vancouver Centre were the first in the world to take drug therapies that counteract this gene that helps cancer cells grow.

PANCREATIC & COLORECTAL CANCER
1996 - B.C. patients with pancreatic and colorectal cancer are the first to receive novel liposome anticancer drugs that target tumours but leave healthy tissue intact, developed by the BC Cancer Agency's Advanced Therapeutics department.

FIRST TREATMENT CENTRE USING BEAM OF PROTONS
1995 - Canada's first cancer treatment centre that uses a beam of protons to destroy tumours opens at the Tri- University Meson Facility (TRIUMF), in collaboration with the BC Cancer Agency and the University of British Columbia.

LUNG CANCER DETECTION
The first new advance in bronchoscopic diagnosis of early lung cancer since the invention of white-light bronchoscopy more than 100 years ago is a highly sensitive autofluorescence bronchoscopy method. LIFE-Lung was developed in conjunction with the BC Cancer Agency's cancer imaging department, to better detect and localize pre-invasive lung cancers.

TESTING & TREATMENT FOR CERVICAL CANCER
Agency researchers are undergoing clinical trials of a potential one-step testing and treatment technology for cervical cancer. This new technology, developed at the BC Cancer Agency, could potentially provide screening and treatment in the same visit.

HALTING CANCER GROWTH
Dr. Shoukat Dedhar and MD/PhD student Clara Tan and team discover a new way to halt the growth of some cancers in the lab by shutting down their blood supply.

NEW BREAST AND OVARIAN CANCER GENE DISCOVERED
An international consortium of scientists and doctors, along with BC Cancer Agency and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researchers, have discovered a new breast and ovarian cancer gene named EMSY, which links hereditary breast cancers and sporadic, non-inherited forms. This is key in understanding how and why cancers develop.