http://www.fhcrc.org The latest science from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center en Copyright 2008 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/11/18/shopforcures.html SEATTLE -- Just in time for the holiday season, shoppers can visit the new Web site www.ShopForCancerCures.org to benefit cancer research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and 10 other world-class cancer centers of the Cancer Research Alliance (CRA). A portion of each purchase on the site launched today by Mall Networks, the leading provider of merchant-funded loyalty shopping solutions, will benefit the cancer- research institutions. Highlights of the online shopping mall include: Discounts and coupons from more than 600 merchants Free shipping offers Comparison-shopping involving millions of products On the site, each merchant posts the percentage of its sales that will benefit cancer research. Through www.ShopForCancerCures.org, the Hutchinson Center and CRA intend to empower individual shoppers to drive breakthroughs in science and cancer care. "This is a win-win situation -- consumers can shop for holiday gifts while, at the same time, help raise money to fund innovative cancer research," said Kit Herrod, director of External Relations at the Hutchinson Center. "We turned to Mall Networks for this exciting project because we're confident that its innovative and robust online loyalty shopping solution will make it simple, convenient and enjoyable for people to make a difference in the fight against cancer." Ben Kaplan, COO of Mall Networks, said, "We are delighted to support the CRA in its efforts to raise money for these highly regarded cancer centers this holiday season by offering the most innovative and exciting online shopping program for consumers. Driving consumers to actively support the CRA is crucial to the success of the Shop for Cancer Cures campaign, and our online shopping program is an effective way to help reach this goal. With this new online mall, we're proud to help the CRA to simultaneously engage holiday shoppers and accelerate cancer research." ... November 18, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/11/10/lester.html SEATTLE -- Nov. 10, 2008 -- Left-handed pitcher Jon Lester, who came back from an off-season battle with cancer to pitch the winning game for the Boston Red Sox in the 2007 World Series, will receive the 2008 Hutch Award. The award is given annually to a Major League Baseball player who best exemplifies the honor, courage and dedication of baseball great Fred Hutchinson, both on and off the field. ... November 10, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/11/06/migraines.html SEATTLE -- November 6, 2008 -- Women who suffer from migraines may take at least some comfort in a recent, first-of-its-kind study that suggests a history of such headaches is associated with a significantly lower risk of breast cancer. Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center report these findings in the November issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. ... November 6, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/10/27/contest.html Get Screened Video Contest SEATTLE -- October 27, 2008 -- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center today announced a video contest called "Get Screened" -- a creative challenge to movie makers to help shine a spotlight on the importance of colorectal-cancer screening. The contest is part of the Hutchinson Center's ongoing awareness campaign -- Your colon. Your life. Your call. -- to increase colon-cancer screening rates and reduce deaths from the disease in Washington state. ... October 27, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/10/22/grand_challenges.html SEATTLE -- October 22, 2008 -- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center today announced that it has received a U.S. $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global-health research project conducted by James Kublin, M.D., M.P.H., who directs the Hutchinson Center-based HIV Vaccine Trials Network. ... October 22, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/10/13/Corey.html SEATTLE -- October 13, 2008 -- Larry Corey, M.D., senior vice president and co-director of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, today was named as one of 65 new members of the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM). ... October 13, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/10/07/08_Nominees_Release.html SEATTLE -- October 7, 2008 -- A national committee of Major League Baseball and media representatives has released a list of 10 players, one of whom will go on to receive the prestigious Hutch Award® in January. The finalists for the 2008 Hutch Award are: ... October 7, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/10/06/BHGI_guidelines.html October 6, 2008 -- A special supplement of the Oct. 15 journal Cancer for the first time details guidelines for low- and middle-income countries to implement breast cancer programs to detect and treat the most common disease among women worldwide. ... October 6, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/09/15/hiv_test.html SEATTLE -- Sept. 15, 2008 -- A team of researchers led by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center reports online today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology the validation of a potential "HIV-test" equivalent for the early detection of lung cancer. The test, which relies on immune-system signals, much like an HIV test, can detect the presence of lung cancer a year prior to diagnosis, long before symptoms appear. ... September 15, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/08/04/YMCA_exercise.html SEATTLE -- Aug. 4, 2008 -- Puget Sound-area cancer survivors have access to a new strength-and-fitness program designed specifically for them thanks to a partnership between the YMCA of Greater Seattle and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The 10-week program, Exercise and Thrive, is available free to adults who have completed cancer treatment, regardless of where they were treated. ... August 4, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/07/28/micro_rna.html SEATTLE -- July 28, 2008 -- Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have discovered that microRNAs -- molecular workhorses that regulate gene expression -- are released by cancer cells and circulate in the blood, which gives them the potential to become a new class of biomarkers to detect cancer at its earliest stages. Muneesh Tewari, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues describe their findings in the July 28 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ... July 28, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/07/17/genvar-grant.html SEATTLE -- July 17, 2008 -- Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have received a $7.6 million, four-year grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute to better understand the genetic and biological roots of common diseases. The Hutchinson Center is one of four U.S. research institutes to receive grants totaling about $31 million toward this effort. The Hutchinson Center project, led by biostatistician and principal investigator Charles Kooperberg, Ph.D., and epidemiologist and co-principal investigator Ulrike "Riki" Peters, Ph.D., both of the Center's Public Health Sciences Division, will study how specific genetic variants influence the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other common conditions, from obesity to dementia. Mining more than a decade of data from the Women's Health Initiative, an ethnically and socio-economically diverse study population involving nearly 162,000 postmenopausal women nationwide, Kooperberg and colleagues will look also at how previously identified genetic variants are related to biological and physical characteristics associated with disease risk, such as weight, cholesterol and blood-sugar levels, and bone density. The scientists also will examine how lifestyle factors, such as diet, medications and smoking, may interact with genetic factors to influence health outcomes. For example, if a person follows a low-fat diet high in fruits and vegetables, would that lessen or negate the disease risk associated with a specific genetic variant? "Through previous genome-wide association studies we know there are common genetic variants in the population that are associated with a moderate increase in the risk of various diseases. Now we want to know how environmental exposures and lifestyle factors, such as diet or smoking, influence disease risk in people with these genetic variants," Peters said. Another goal of the study is to examine the pathways by which these genetic variants influence disease. "We hope to learn more about the mechanisms by looking at the associations between these genetic variations and intermediate biomarkers of disease, such as cholesterol levels as a marker for heart disease and bone density as a marker for hip fractures," she said. To this end, the researchers will aim to genotype blood samples from 58,000 WHI study participants to investigate up to 100 known disease-specific genetic variants. "Information generated from this study will be critical to determine the health impact of any given genetic variant and to prioritize them for intervention studies aimed to reduce their associated risk," Kooperberg said. "These findings may also provide valuable insights into disease pathways and mechanisms, and identify targets for disease screening, prevention and treatment." The Hutchinson Center's Public Health Sciences Division houses the Clinical Coordinating Center for the Women's Health Initiative, one of the most definitive, far-reaching studies of postmenopausal women's health ever undertaken in the United States. Enrollment began in 1993 and participants will be followed at least until 2010. The study examines the prevalence and risk factors for a number of diseases common in aging women, as well as the effects of various interventions, from low-fat diets and hormone therapy to calcium and vitamin D supplementation. "We are extremely grateful for the study participants who have provided a wealth of biological data that will permit us to link genetic variants to relevant intermediate biomarkers that will potentially provide important clues to the biological basis of the disease," Kooperberg said. Also collaborating on the project, in addition Kooperberg, Peters and colleagues from the WHI Clinical Coordinating Center, are investigators from the University of Arizona Cancer Center, Ohio State University and the University of Pittsburgh. ... July 17, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/07/17/basketoflight.html SEATTLE -- July 17, 2008 -- It may seem a contradiction, but the new, landmark architectural sculpture at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center should strike observers as both monumental and delicate. That's according to its creator, architectural sculptor Ed Carpenter, whose installation team just put finishing touches on this 60-foot-tall glass-and-metal piece called "Vessel." ... July 17, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/07/08/FH_labs.html SEATTLE -- July 8, 2008 -- About 30 science teachers from Washington -- plus two from Singapore and one from Australia -- are spending part of their vacation at "summer school," working beside scientists in research laboratories at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and several other partner sites throughout Seattle. The summer workshop, which runs July 14-30, will host teachers from nearly 20 communities throughout the state and abroad. ... July 8, 2008 http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/07/01/hibernation_on_demand.html SEATTLE -- July 1, 2008 -- For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that the administration of minute amounts of inhaled or intravenous hydrogen sulfide, or H2S -- the molecule that gives rotten eggs their sulfurous stench -- significantly improves survival from extreme blood loss in rats. ... July 1, 2008