The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center (MCC) held its annual Research Day on May 16, and this year’s event had an added attraction: the announcement that the center has been awarded a $5 million grant from the Edward P. Evans Foundation.
The grant is for research on myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Chemotherapy and radiation treatments can lead to this deadly blood and bone marrow disease. Blood cells produce in the bone marrow do not mature into normally functioning cells and soon die. The patient is then vulnerable to an infection, anemia or easy bleeding. MDS can also progress into leukemia, and it is largely untreatable.
People with solid tumors, particularly breast or prostate cancer, such as the late Edward P. Evans had, are at much greater risk for developing MDS. A Virginia businessman, Evans was well known in the Thoroughbred community. He both raced and sold horses at Keeneland.
After receiving radiation treatment for prostrate cancer, Evans developed MDS and later died from the disease. In his will, he left funds to create the foundation bearing his name that would fund MDS research.
William S. Farish, owner of Lane’s End Farm and a trustee of the Evans Foundation, was instrumental in securing the grant. An anonymous donor gave another $1.25 million, through the Markey Cancer Foundation.
“We are incredibly excited to be able to supplement the $5 million Evans grant with this generous $1.25 million gift through the Markey Cancer Foundation,” said its director, Dr. Randall Rowland. “It shows how much faith the community has in the work our researchers are doing every day.”
Rowland said that the supplemental gift “will help them make major strides in preventing this terrible group of diseases.”
The grants will fund research labs at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, the University of Arkansas, and three labs at UK. The consortium of medical researchers will be led by UK.
UK’s principal investigator is Dr. Gary Van Zant, professor and director of the Clinical Stem Cell Laboratory for the UK Bone Marrow Transplant Program. Drs. Subbarao Bondada and Daret St. Clair will be co-principal investigators.
Van Zant described the disease as “a smoldering malignancy in many patients.” He said that the research would “start with basic science and progress to translational science. One of our first steps will be to figure out what can cause these changes in bone marrow that lead to myelodysplastic syndrome.”
A major goal of the research is to identify what makes some people with cancer likely to develop MDS. When doctors can predict the patients who are at higher risk for MDS, they can use the most effective cancer treatments that are associated with lower incidence of the disease.
Dr. Mark Evers, Director of MCC, said that receiving such significant funding is proof of the reputation of UK’s researchers.
“As we move toward applying for National Cancer Institute designation (NCID), leading-edge research like this will become more of a focus for the Markey Cancer Center,” he added.
In his annual state of cancer report, Evers confirmed another piece of major news: Markey Cancer Center intends to make formal application for NCID status in September. In April, 15 top cancer specialists reviewed the center. They sent back favorable comments and suggestions to strengthen its application.
The actual application “is two times the size of the New York City phone book,” Evers said. “By summer 2013, we’ll know something.”
Should the Markey Cancer Center succeed in achieving the designation, it would join an elite group of 66 nationally recognized cancer centers considered to be the best in the country. Such prestigious institutions as Sloan-Kettering in New York City and M.D. Anderson in Houston hold NCI rating.
But the designation will mean more than bragging rights. It provides access to federal and other funds for which only these centers are eligible. Holding the NCI designation will also make it easier for UK/MCC to land nationally recognized faculty members and postdoctoral fellows.
MCC had success this past year with receiving other grants, aside from those announced.
“Even with a bad economy, where all budgets are flat, [the center] landed almost $5.4 million grants,” Evers said.
The expansion of UK’s Chandler Hospital has proven to be an economic engine, driving millions of construction and medical salary dollars into Lexington’s economy. More doctors and research scientists at MCC bring a similar economic benefit.
“Something over $400 million is the economic benefit to other cities of Lexington’s size,” Evers said.
New patient visits were up 33 percent over the previous year’s count. MCC is serving cancer patients from Kentucky and surrounding states, but the need for cancer research and treatment is particularly pertinent in Kentucky.
“Kentucky has the second highest age-adjusted, for all cancers, number of cases, but the highest incidence of cancer deaths in the U.S.,” Evers said.