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Tobacco-related Malignancy Center of Economic Excellence
Inception: About the Center: The Center in Tobacco-Related Malignancy is devoted to discovering biomarkers of tobacco-related malignancies. The initial focus is on lung cancer, but Center leaders also hope to make advances in other tobacco-related malignancies, including head and neck, bladde, and esophageal cancers. The Center’s goals include (a) identifying biomarkers of tobacco-related malignancies using genomics, proteomics, and lipidomics; (b) employing techniques to validate biomarkers; (c) integrating bioinformatics to evaluate discovery efforts and to mine cancer databases; (d) developing a networked tissue repository; and (e) developing and implementing clinical trials to evaluate new biomarker uses. The Center, in conjunction with the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, will partner with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, the South Carolina Cancer Alliance, and other state hospital systems. These same partners, along with Health Sciences South Carolina and the Medical University Hospital Authority, will work with the Center to develop a distributed tissue repository and a clinical trials network. In 2008, the Center, in conjunction with the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, formed an alliance with the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center on a renewal of an National Cancer Institute-funded Specialized Center of Research Excellence in Lung Cancer. Two faculty members associated with the Center, Drs. Gemmill and Drabkin, have clinical trials partnerships with Syndax, Pfizer, and Novartis for more than $1.25 million in funding. Other faculty members associated with the Center enrolled a record number of patients with head, neck, and thoracic cancers into therapeutic clinical trials this past year, representing 14 percent of patients in these disease areas seen at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. As a result of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation for
the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, a new collaborative project, NAVIGATE, has been initiated with Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System and St.
Joseph’s/Candler Hospital in Savannah to elucidate specific barriers experienced by thoracic and esophageal cancer patients when
seeking timely treatment options. Since inception, the Center has received more than $12 million in research funding. The Center also participated in the application of the NCI Cancer Center Designation award and the $20 million National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award. Funding level: SmartState Endowed Chairs:
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