The Research Evangelist

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, but I hadn’t thought about how I would participate as a lung cancer survivor until late last week.   As it turned out, I had a great weekend that helped me kick off the month. On Friday, I had meetings in Boston, so I made plans to also have lunch with Janet Freeman-Daily , who was in Boston for the Partners Connected Health Symposium. Janet is a well-known lung cancer advocate who spends her time “supporting others in online forums, raising awareness (through writing, blogging and public speaking), collaborating with lung cancer nonprofits and researchers, and participating in a clinical trial. I tweet as @JFreemanDaily and share moderator duties for Lung Cancer Social Media (#LCSM) tweetchats on Thursdays at 8 PM ET.” What an honor to meet and spend time with Janet, and share our lung cancer journeys. She is so committed to education and advocacy! On Saturday, I had the privilege of joining Chris Draft and Linnea Duff at the Bo...

The final piece of the puzzle is now in place. I’ve been writing about the promise of liquid biopsy in cancer detection and treatment for several months and specifically about Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) research being done at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) by Dr. Daniel Haber, Director of the MGH Cancer Center.   On Thursday, I met Dr. Haber to discuss his research, and now I am even more determined and excited to support his work. Though the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) has supported Dr. Haber’s research since 2004, I had never personally met him.   NFCR support had helped lead to a $30 million strategic relationship with Johnson & Johnson to commercialize his CTC Chip, so I was obviously impressed by his work.   But because I have a personal mantra that “It’s about relationships”, it was important for me to meet Dr. Haber to solidify my commitment to raising funds to support his research. So let me tell you that I am equally impres...

  My heart is broken. Dave Bjork, Cancer Research Evangelist has had a tough week. My friend Stephen Muir passed away yesterday. He was 45 years old, never smoked, but died of stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer. Wow. Diagnosed August 8 th , died September 4 th .   Wow. I’ve been gearing up for a major fundraising effort this fall to support the research of Dr. Daniel Haber, the Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. The sad irony is that my friend Stephen’s story is so profoundly relevant to the research I am supporting. I feel like there is a reason and a purpose for my friendship with Stephen to make a difference in the work that I do at the National Foundation for Cancer Research. Tumors change over time, often developing resistance to treatment. To remain effective, targeted therapies need to address these tumor changes as they occur. That requires constant monitoring of tumors, so that doctors can make appropriate adjustments to patien...

I’ve been writing a lot about the Precision Medicine Initiative because I am excited about this approach to cancer treatment, and the advancements being made.   The National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) has supported cancer research for all cancers since 1973, and is taking a leadership role in educating the public about how cancer treatment has less to do with the location of the tumor, and more to do with the genetic abnormalities.   Yet today, it’s still the case in most medical care systems that cancers are classified mainly by the type of tissue or part of the body in which they presented—breast, lung, brain, colon, etc. But thanks to advances in scientific knowledge and DNA sequencing technology, things are changing, and researchers are discovering that cancers that arise in totally different parts of the body can sometimes have a lot in common. This is leading to rethinking how we approach clinical trials. For example, The NCI-Molecular Analysis for The...

Cancer hit close to home for me again this week.   A friend of mine in Washington, DC was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer – age 44 non-smoker.   My heart is broken for him and his beautiful family.   At the same time, it reinforces my commitment to raising money for cancer research, including research that would help my friend. It also reminds me of how fortunate I am to live in Massachusetts, and to participate in the scientific community of innovation in Boston and Cambridge.   The National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) has supported cancer research in laboratories in Boston for many years, at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dana Farber, Beth Israel and MIT.   Greater Boston truly is one of the most important centers for innovation in the world, and I spend a lot of time here, exploring potential collaborations with leaders in the biotech, venture capital, and academic medical research communities. Boston and Cambridge are home to so many innov...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Iressa (gefitinib) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors harbor specific types of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations.      This new approval extends only to patients whose tumors express specific mutations, originally identified by National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR)-supported scientist Daniel Haber, M.D., Ph.D. at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), which make them especially responsive to the drug. With this approval, metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients whose tumors have EGFR mutations now have three personalized treatment options.   It was Dr. Haber’s landmark research in 2004 that first identified the specific EGFR mutations that predict which patients will have a positive response to Iressa. In making its ruling, the FDA cites a recent clinical trial , which directly credits Dr. Haber’s...

I continue to be encouraged by advances in the use of circulating tumor cell (CTC) analysis in cancer treatment, but so much work needs to be done.   In a recent study led by Martine Mazel from University Medical Centre in Montpellier, France , researchers have demonstrated the ability to gauge PD-L1 expression from liquid biopsies of metastatic breast cancer patients.   Immune checkpoint regulators are becoming increasing important and have given rise to the development of immunotherapies for cancer treatment. PD-L1 is an immune checkpoint regulator targeted by a number of approved and developmental oncology therapies.    Using the CELLSEARCH® System developed by Janssen Diagnostics, researchers tested blood samples from 16 women with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer and found 11 patients had a subpopulation of CTCs with weak or strong PD-L1 expression. These results indicate that CTC analysis for PD-L1 expression is feasible ...

So here’s the promise.   I’ve written before about circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and blood biopsies, as many of us in the cancer research community continue to see tremendous opportunities.   Currently, the most immediate applications for CTC technology are likely to be the genotyping of cancers for which mutation-targeted therapies are effective.    According to a paper published in Cancer Discovery , Drs. Daniel A. Haber and Victor E. Velculescu hypothesize that these will involve “predominantly the approved indications for non–small cell lung cancer ( EGFR and EML4–ALK mutations) and melanoma (BRAF), as well as upcoming applications for BRAF + EGFR–directed therapies in colorectal cancer and PIK3CA - targeted treatments in breast cancer and other cancers.” Further, “these applications are likely to increase as additional genotype-driven therapies are developed, and though they constitute a small subset of all cancers, broad testing even in cases at relativel...

It’s been a whirlwind month for the Play4TheCure program at the National Foundation for Cancer Research ( NFCR ).   In June I saw firsthand the transformation from pink to lavender as student athletes continued to support cancer research for ALL CANCERS - with lacrosse joining the field hockey and soccer communities to Play4TheCure.   Because as we are learning from the  Precision Medicine Initiative and the NCI MATCH trials, potential treatments actually follow a new paradigm: based on targeted treatment of specific “actionable” molecular abnormalities in cancers independent of the organ site. This is a fundamental shift in thinking in driving better results, it is in part an outcome of genomic research and reflective of the research approach NFCR has been supporting for many years. As the Vice President of Development for the National Foundation for Cancer Research, I watched my Play4TheCure team work with The New Hampshire Youth Lacrosse Associat...

  I spent Sunday in Niantic, CT at the New England Coastal Lacrosse (NECLAX) year-end tournament, the Coastal Jam.   It’s an annual event, where hundreds of youth lacrosse athletes and their families convene for a friendly competition, and celebrate another season of lacrosse.   Play4TheCure is privileged to join the event this year as a charity partner, working with the teams to raise money for cancer research and shine a spotlight on the game of lacrosse.   Play4TheCure is a signature fundraising program of the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR). Through this program, young athletes use their passion for sports to “Play4” loved ones affected by cancer.   The program started as a tribute to a mother fighting cancer and has grown to a powerful movement of tens of thousands of student athletes, playing for the cause. Now Play4TheCure is taking hold in lacrosse programs like NECLAX . But those of us raising money for cancer research know t...