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Recent research at UNM Cancer Center

By Stephanie Garcia Krenrich
Saturday, July 7, 2007

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The University of New Mexico broke ground on a new $90 million Cancer Center on May 15. The new center will be 190,000 square feet and will house its first patients in February 2009.

Spokeswoman Leann Holt said the center, which was established in 1971, had 80,000 clinic visits, served 6,500 patients and conducted 178 clinical trials and research studies in 2006.

Here is some of the groundbreaking research the center has begun within the last six years:

Human papillomavirus vaccine The center was part of a collaborative research team with other cancer centers throughout the United States that developed a vaccine that targets certain sexually transmitted strains of the human papillomavirus associated with cervical cancer and genital warts.

The vaccine is geared toward young women and became available early this year.

Discovery of a new estrogen receptor Researchers have explored a way estrogen can facilitate the growth of some women's cancers.

"Estrogen has been known to promote the growth of estrogen-driven cancers. The discovery of a new receptor will enable doctors to accurately diagnose and treat those types of cancers," Holt said.

Test for lung cancer using saliva As an alternative to some invasive tests that require a biopsy of the lung, researchers now can test the saliva to determine if patient has a predisposition to lung cancer.

Blood test for endometrial cancer Researchers have developed a blood test to determine if a woman has cancer in the lining of the uterus.

"Women used to have to get a biopsy to determine if they had this form of cancer. Menopausal women can have this procedure done as a preventative measure before any symptoms appear," Holt said.

The test for endometrial cancer is expected to be ready in three years.

The role of vitamin D in preventing melanoma Research indicates high levels of vitamin D might increase the survival rate of people with skin cancer. It's in a pilot study, which is expected to be completed by next year, Holt said.

Racial, ethnic differences in cancer "Mortality rates are coming down for whites and not coming down for Hispanics," Holt said.

UNM has been tracking cancer by race through the New Mexico tumor registry. It has outreach programs in some communities reporting the types of cancer they're seeing.

Noninvasive procedure to determine if an enlarged prostate is cancerous A special kind of magnetic-imaging picture is taken of the patient's prostate.

"Before they used to do this test with a biopsy," Holt said.

Traditional biopsy of the prostate missed cancerous cells 28 percent of the time. If a patient has an enlarged prostate it can be infection or cancer. Now they can tell by this procedure.

Creating a smart bone marrow biopsy needle The needle can target leukemia cells. "Before they would suck out the bone marrow, and it was hit or miss if you actually got the cancerous cell," Holt said. "This needle actually seeks out the cancerous cells."

Researching a gene abnormality that is resistant to standard treatment for breast cancer Sometimes they can even be in the same cancer, there is a mutation, called a BRCA (breast cancer) gene mutation. "It wasn't developed here but they are doing research on it," Holt said.

"When they do genetic testing, they can determine if you have that mutation." said Holt.