Providence Cancer Center researcher Michael Gough has received a Career Catalyst Research Grant of $450,000 over three years from Susan G. Komen for the Cure to study the possibility of ending metastatic cancer. Despite advances in all treatment for breast cancer, metastatic disease the spread of cancer to other parts of the body remains the ultimate challenge. Dr. Gough’s work explores how the human immune system protects and supports cancer cell growth following cytotoxic therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy, according to a press release from Providence. Cells not killed during treatment have the potential to move to other parts of the body. The grant will be used to study how to redirect immune processes so that a patient’s own immune system can target and destroy residual cancer cells that remain following treatment. It will also explore ways to enhance chemotherapy and radiation therapy in microscopic pockets of disease and eliminate the chances of cancer spreading. Funding study is increasingly competitive, according to Dr. Walter J. Urba, director of cancer research for the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center in the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute at Providence Cancer Center. Providence Cancer Center is the only Oregon institution to receive research funding from Komen in the organization’s 2011 fiscal year. Komen Career Catalyst Research Grants are awarded to scientists in the early stages of their careers to further research independence and to explore novel approaches that will lead to substantial progress in breast cancer research and reductions in breast cancer incidence and/or mortality within the next decade. Funds become available in June.
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