Activities Archive

Tour of Johns Hopkins Medical Center Early Detection Lab
June 7, 2003

Team Hope National Capital Area Tours Johns Hopkins Early Detection Labs
PanCAN's financial commitment to the Early Detection Labs at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore has helped attract talented researchers to this important area. On June 7, 2003, PanCAN Team Hope National Capital Area had a chance to learn more about the exciting developments at the Early Detection Labs.

Dr. Gloria Su is making progress in her landmark efforts to develop a strain of mice that will have the type of genetic defects that researchers believe contribute to the development of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Anirban Maitra described the advances in using cyclopamine to cause total remission of metastatic cancer in mice, without harming healthy cells. Dr. Christine Iacabuzio-Donahue has recently opened a lab to recover tumors from consenting patients soon after their death. Tumor tissue is not routinely removed from patients with metastatic disease, so this new lab will help create a much-needed tissue bank for researchers to study.

Dr. Scott Kern described some advances by the Hopkins researchers, including the successful early detection of cancer in two people who were genetically at higher risk to develop pancreatic cancer. Even though these individuals exhibited no overt symptoms of cancer, they opted to have surgery due to the testing done at Hopkins, and their pancreases were found to contain cancer. Dr. Mike Goggins discussed advances in examining and comparing tissue samples and genetic information to screen for pancreatic cancer. Kieran Brune spoke about the progress of the National Familial Pancreas Tumor Registry, which is an important database of family history that is often used by researchers searching for possible causes and cures of this disease.

Dr. Charles Yeo gave an interesting and informative talk about the history of the Whipple procedure and treatment at Johns Hopkins, and Dr. Daniel Laheru spoke about new approaches to treatment of pancreatic cancer. The group also appreciated the opportunity to talk one-on-one with the researchers during lunch. We thank Dr. Ralph Hruban and his staff for their role in helping arrange this very informative event.