Dr. Daniel Von Hoff, TGen’s Physician-In-Chief, and Dr. Craig B. Thompson, Director of the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn, are co-leaders of SU2C’s pancreatic cancer “Dream Team,’’ which will investigate new approaches to treating patients with pancreatic cancer, the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.

“We want to do something dramatic. It is going to take a tremendous amount of real thinking power to make that difference, so it is a dream come true to be able to put this team together to work towards this goal,’’ said Dr. Von Hoff, who also is Chief Scientific Officer for TGen Clinical Research Services (TCRS) at Scottsdale Healthcare, a primary clinical research site for TGen and the SU2C grant.

The $18 million to TGen and Penn was the largest single grant among five awards, totaling $74 million, announced by SU2C, a philanthropic group created by members of the entertainment industry and cancer scientists a year ago to quickly turn scientific discoveries into ways to care for cancer patients.

The goal of the pancreatic cancer Dream Team research project – “Cutting Off the Fuel Supply’’ – is to develop tests, using advanced imaging techniques, to determine what nutrients pancreatic cancer cells require to fuel their growth and survival. Understanding the cell’s fuel supply will help scientists develop more individualized treatments with fewer side effects.

TGen and its clinical partner at TCRS will launch a series of innovative clinical trials in advanced pancreatic cancer. These clinical trials will be designed to deprive pancreatic tumors of crucial nutrients, thereby cutting off the fuel supply. This approach will be added to the already promising and clinically effective treatment regimes at TCRS.

TCRS is located at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center in Scottsdale. Other clinical sites in the study are at Penn in Philadelphia and at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

The TGen-Penn team will combine translational methods developed at the University of Pennsylvania with individualized-therapies developed by TGen to rapidly move laboratory findings to bedside treatments, benefiting pancreatic cancer patients as quickly as possible. They will test the drugs in combination with existing standard chemotherapy, with the hope of improving quality of life while increasing the percentage of patients surviving beyond one year.

In addition to his positions at TGen and Scottsdale Healthcare, Dr. Von Hoff is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona. His major interest is in the development of new anticancer agents. Dr. Von Hoff’s work focuses on the development of molecularly targeted therapies for patients with pancreatic and other advanced cancers. He is serving a six-year term on the National Cancer Advisory Board and has served on the FDA’s Oncology Advisory Committee. Dr. Von Hoff is a past president of the American Association for Cancer Research, was on the AACR and the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Board of Directors, and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Since its inception in 2002, TGen has pioneered cutting-edge research in genomic medicine, enabling physicians to design targeted and individualized therapies for patients suffering from cancer and other debilitating diseases.

The five Dream Teams – culled from 237 submissions – are comprised of seven leaders, four co-leaders and 27 principal researchers from more than 20 leading institutions, with more than 300 individuals participating.

Collectively, the research that will be done through the Dream Team projects could impact the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of cancers in adults and children, including — but not limited to — pancreatic, breast, ovarian, cervical, uterine, brain, lung, prostate, rectal and colon. These represent two-thirds of all U.S. cancer deaths; 562,340 people are expected to die of cancer this year in the U.S.

On average 1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes. Worldwide, cancer annually kills nearly almost 8 million.

The 28,000-member American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the scientific partner for Stand Up To Cancer. In that role, the association will provide scientific oversight through program management and evaluation of progress during the funding period. AACR has convened the Scientific Advisory Committee led by Nobel Laureate Phillip Sharp, which will conduct periodic reviews to ensure that milestones and objectives are achieved in a satisfactory manner.

"The dedication and time commitment of our highly expert SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee have been quite remarkable and far beyond what is normally expected in a more standard research grant review process. Each and every one of AACR's 28,000 members is very proud to be a part of this significant and exhilarating undertaking in cancer research, which will help us accelerate our mission of curing cancer at the earliest possible time," said Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), chief executive officer of the American Association for Cancer Research.

AACR is the oldest and largest scientific organization in the world focusing on every aspect of high-quality, innovative cancer research from the bench to the bedside. Lauded internationally for its scientific breadth, innovation and spread of new knowledge about cancer, the AACR is on the front lines in the quest for the prevention and cure of cancer.

The Stand Up To Cancer movement raises funds to hasten the pace of groundbreaking translational research that can get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. It was begun in 2007 by a group of women whose lives have all been affected by cancer in profound ways. They began working together to marshal the resources of the media and entertainment industries in the fight against the disease.

The Entertainment Industry Foundation has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to support critical health, education and social issues.

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most deadly forms of cancer. More than 75 percent of patients die within the first year of diagnosis. Recent advancements have had little impact, and a new approach is desperately needed.

Using modern tumor imaging, it is possible to monitor a tumor’s glucose utilization and such tests are now routinely used in clinical practice. In most cases, the more glucose a tumor is using, the more advanced the tumor and the greater likelihood of spread. Similarly, if a tumor is using less glucose as a response to chemotherapy, then it is a good indication that the tumor is responding to treatment.

Pancreatic cancer presents a unique challenge because it is addicted to another molecule, glutamine, rather than glucose. Glutamine is an amino acid that helps build muscle mass and is used by some cells for energy. When cancer feeds or metabolizes excess amounts of glutamine, it can lead to extreme weight loss by robbing other cells of this important nutrient, a condition from which many pancreatic cancer patients suffer.

In addition, the waste that is a by-product of this process generates an intense reaction from surrounding normal cells, which then secrete growth factors that help tumor cells grow. Cancers that use excess glutamine are often resistant to standard forms of chemotherapy, another characteristic of pancreatic cancer.

Katie Couric on TGen's Cancer Research (CBS The Early Show)