MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (Oct. 31, 2005) – Masonic Cancer Center researchers   have been awarded two program grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) totaling more than $20 million over five years to conduct research on stem cells and natural killer cells for treatment of cancer.

Principal investigators for the grants are Philip McGlave, M.D., chief of the University of Minnesota Medical School's Hematology, Oncology and Transplant Division and co-leader of the Masonic Cancer Center's Translational Research Program, and Jeffrey Miller, M.D., hematologist/oncologist and co-leader of the Transplant Biology and Therapy Program.

“These grants underscore the University of Minnesota's place as a world leader in cell-based experimental therapy. They focus on novel areas of investigation, including the use of umbilical cord blood as a source of stem cells for transplant and the use of natural killer cells to fight cancer,” says McGlave.

McGlave will oversee three teams of researchers, focused on projects aimed at further understanding the biology of human stem cells and transplanting them into patients for treatment of leukemia and lymphoma. University of Minnesota physician-scientists leading the research projects include Catherine Verfaillie, M.D., John Wagner, M.D., and Jeffrey Miller, M.D. The newly awarded five-year competitive renewal of this grant will enable McGlave and his teams to build on 10 years of National Institutes of Health-funded interdisciplinary programmatic research in this area.

Miller also will direct three teams of researchers, intent on learning more about the role of natural killer cells in killing cancer and how the cells can be used in unrelated donor transplants. In addition to Miller, the other team leaders include Daniel Weisdorf, M.D., University of Minnesota, and Peter Parham, Ph.D., Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

As part of the body's immune system, natural killer cells help defend the body against infection and against some cancers. Findings reported by Miller last year were the first successful demonstration that natural killer cells donated by a family member and transfused into a patient with advanced acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a highly fatal cancer of the bone marrow, could survive in the patient and actively attack the deadly AML cells.

Those findings led to Miller receiving the new NCI grant – it is one of the first grants awarded by NCI exclusively for research on natural killer cells for fighting cancer. The funds from both grants will be used to continue the laboratory research, conduct clinical trials in patients, and begin to apply what has been learned about the use of natural killer cells in fighting leukemia to breast cancer. The researchers also will collaborate with the National Marrow Donor Program in Minneapolis for use of marrow samples.

The Masonic Cancer Center is designated by the National Cancer Center as a comprehensive cancer center. Its more than 500 members strive to advance the understanding of cancer and enhance the care for patients through research, treatment and education. For more information about the Masonic Cancer Center, call 1-888-CANCERMN (1-888-226-2376).

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Media Contact: Mary Lawson, Public Relations Director, Masonic Cancer Center, 612-624-6165, 612-363-6971 (cell), mlawson@umn.edu.