Feature: MSU Cancer Research

MSU CANCER RESEARCH: ON THE EDGE, IN THE COMMUNITY

When one hears the words 'cancer research,' visions of white-coated scientists hunched over microscopes and test tubes come to mind. While laboratory work is essential in the fight against cancer, it's only just a part of what cancer research is all about.

At Michigan State University, scientists DO wear white lab coats and hunch over microscopes and test tubes. They also take part in national studies to test the effectiveness of a drug that has the potential to ward off breast cancer. They also travel to the medically underserved areas of the state, looking for ways that cancer patients in these areas can have easy access to state-of-the-art cancer care and follow-up treatment. It is this attention to the medically underserved, particularly those living in rural areas, that separates MSU from other institutions doing cancer research. 'We are very unique,' says Dr. G. Marie Swanson, director of the Cancer Center at MSU (CCMSU) that oversees all of the university's cancer work. 'We are one of only a handful of cancer centers in the United States that supports cancer research in rural areas.'

Founded in 1988, the Cancer Center at MSU now has more than 200 MSU faculty, representing 11 of the university's 14 colleges, participating in cancer- related projects. These faculty come from traditional areas such as biology, biochemistry, nursing and medicine, as well as non-traditional areas like music, English and philosophy. 'Simply put, our mission is to reduce cancer rates through research, education and community service,' Swanson says. 'Our goal is the discovery of practical uses for theoretical knowledge and the dissemination of this information to people throughout Michigan, the nation and the world.'

It's this 'dissemination of knowledge' that MSU's all about. Since its founding in 1855, MSU's reason for existence has been the sharing of knowledge with those who need it the most. As it was with agriculture at the turn of the century, so it is now with health care. Swanson is the center's first and only director, appointed to the post in 1990 after a nationwide search. A nationally recognized epidemiologist, Swanson has conducted ground-breaking research on occupational cancer risks. In particular, she studies ethnic and racial diversity in cancer risk. In a recent study of Detroit-area cancer patients, Swanson found that blacks are more likely to develop lung cancer than whites working in the same jobs. 'Some of the health effects of blacks are the result of discrimination,' she says. 'Historically, we know that minorities have been assigned to the dirtiest jobs.'

Swanson also is a nationally recognized expert on breast cancer. In 1992 she was appointed by then Vice President Quayle to the Special Commission on Breast Cancer. She also is president of the American Cancer Society -- Michigan Division and of the American College of Epidemiology. Swanson says her job is to add to the legacy of cancer research excellence at Michigan State. 'We are building upon a history of cancer research breakthroughs,' Swanson says, 'Breakthroughs such as the discovery of cisplatin and the development of a medical cyclotron used for cancer therapy.'

Developed by Dr. Barnett Rosenberg, MSU professor of chemistry, cisplatin has proven to be very effective in the treatment of ovarian and testicular cancer. Since winning FDA approval in 1987, it has led all other drugs in total sales. The medical cyclotron, now housed at Detroit's Harper Hospital, was developed at MSU by Dr. Henry Blosser, University Distinguished Professor of Physics and former director of MSU's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. The cyclotron uses neutron beams to treat patients with tumors that resist conventional radiation. This includes patients with advanced inoperable or recurrent tumors of the head and neck, soft tissue, bones, prostate, bladder and cervix. MSU's cancer research can effectively be broken down into three components:

1. Basic research: the nuts and bolts, the work done in the lab where scientists try to determine how and why cancer occurs.
2. Clinical work: the actual treating of patients, as well as the testing of new drugs.
3. Outreach: going into the community, providing care and implementing health prevention and promotion strategies. Here we will examine each of these in some detail, exploring how MSU is making a difference in cancer research.

BASIC RESEARCH: WHEN GOOD CELLS GO BAD

'Cells in the human body develop to a certain point and then they are supposed to stop growing,' says Dr. Sandra Haslam, MSU professor of physiology. 'We're trying to figure out why some of them don't.'

That's because when cells refuse to stop growing, trouble starts. 'Cells normally do not continue to grow, but in cancer they do,' Haslam says.

Haslam is one of a handful of scientists in the world who research cancer at its most basic (and smallest) level: the cell. Much of this finely detailed, often painstaking, work goes on in MSU's Carcinogenesis Laboratory. The word 'carcinogenesis' means 'creation of cancer,' and that's exactly what is done in the lab. Tumors are created in specially bred mice. Scientists then try to figure out when the biochemical changes causing the tumor came about. 'It's a lot like working the New York Times crossword puzzle,' says Dr. Justin McCormick, lab co-director and the Cancer Center's associate director for cancer etiology.

Under the direction of McCormick and co-director Dr. Veronica Maher, the lab attracts millions of dollars worth of grants every year and is considered one of the top labs of its kind in the world. Another goal of this work is to determine how much control, if any, we have over cancer. Dr. Clifford Welsch is a professor of pharmacology and a world renowned expert on the role diet plays in cancer. 'It's absolutely clear that dietary fat can profoundly affect breast tumors in rats and mice,' Welsch says. 'It's unclear as to whether dietary fat is important in human breast cancer.'

He does point out that epidemiological studies indicate that there is a connection, citing data familiar to us all: countries with primarily low-fat diets, such as Japan, have much lower breast cancer rates than nations with high-fat diets, such as the United States.

OUTREACH: FOLLOW-UP CARE, PREVENTION

For most cancer patients, treatment is only the beginning. 'The diagnosis and initial treatment are absolutely essential to survival,' says Dr. Barbara Given, professor of nursing and Cancer Center associate director for cancer prevention and control. 'However, continuing and supportive care also are absolutely essential to quality of life.'

Given is co-director a project designed to make sure folks who don't live within easy distance of a health care facility can have access to this type of follow- up care. The project, titled 'Rural Partnership Linkage for Cancer Care,' is exactly as the name implies. It brings together a modern cancer treatment program, in this case the Kalamazoo Community Oncology Program, and private practices in four west Michigan counties. Because physicians don't always have the 'specialized knowledge needed to deal with cancer treatment problems,' Given says the job is handled by nurse cancer care specialists. These specialists handle everything from helping patients procure wheelchairs to helping them deal with the nausea often caused by their medicine. In another part of the state, the Thumb Area, another group of people, farmers, were being diagnosed with skin cancer. In fact, nearly 700 farmers throughout Michigan develop some form of cancer every year, with about 12 percent of those cancers attributable to farm work.