National Cancer Institute Selects Mayo Clinic to Coordinate Clinical Trials for Cancer Prevention

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Mayo Clinic is one of six cancer research centers in the United States chosen by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to participate in a new initiative to test the effectiveness of experimental medications and nutritional compounds for prevention of cancer.

The initiative represents a new approach by NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention to combat cancer. Each of the six cancer centers will design and lead clinical trials, coordinating its own network of health-care institutions to conduct the trials. The NCI has awarded more than $42 million in contracts to this six-member group. Mayo Clinic's contract amounts to $9.3 million.

Paul Limburg, M.D., M.P.H., a gastroenterologist specializing in cancer prevention, is the principal investigator for the Mayo Clinic clinical trials network. Charles Loprinzi, M.D., a Mayo Clinic medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer research and treatment, is the co-principal investigator.

"We plan to conduct early phase clinical trials for up to seven types of cancer — colorectal, breast, esophageal, liver, blood system, urinary tract and lung — over the next three to five years," says Dr. Limburg. "Our goal will be to find out whether the new agents tested can interrupt the process of cancer by stopping abnormal cells from becoming malignant."

According to Dr. Limburg, Mayo Clinic will coordinate the cancer prevention clinical trials at 27 health-care institutions located throughout the United States and Canada. (These institutions are listed at the end of this news release.) Approximately 100 patients will participate in each cancer prevention trial.

In addition to Mayo Clinic, NCI-designated cancer centers in Arizona, California, Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin are designing and coordinating cancer prevention trials.

"Each of these six institutions was selected based on its proven ability to conduct cancer prevention research," says Peter Greenwald, M.D., director of NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention.

INSTITUTION
Alaska Native Medical Center
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Brigham & Women's Hospital
British Columbia Cancer Agency
California Pacific Medical Center
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Henry Ford Health System
Hines' Veterans' Administration
Indiana University
Johns Hopkins University
Kaiser Permanente, Northern California
Lahey Clinic
Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville
Mayo Clinic in Rochester
Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute
New York University School of Medicine
Ohio State University and Research Foundation
Oregon Health &Science University
Saccomanno Research Institute
St. Louis University
University of Arkansas
University of Hawaii
University of Miami
University of Toronto
Wayne State University

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CONTACT:
Mary Lawson
507-284-5005 (days)
507-284-2511 (evenings)
e-mail: newsbureau@mayo.edu

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