The Center for Cancer Research (CCR), a basic, clinical and translational research program at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), has evolved into a premier comprehensive translational research center within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CCR is a distinctive organization of scientists, physicians, trainees, and support staff dedicated to informing and empowering the entire biomedical community by making fundamental discoveries in cancer and HIV/AIDS, and rapidly translating those findings into novel therapies for patients suffering from those diseases. CCR continues to bring its basic and clinical scientists together to deepen and increase the collaborations within the center, as well as partnerships beyond CCR and NIH, including those with other government agencies, academia, nonprofits, and industry.
The important discoveries made in CCR labs are able to reach patients through CCR's distinct translational infrastructure. This organization system includes the Centers of Excellence, Faculties, and Working Groups that leverage the expertise of scientists on-site at CCR and at sister NIH Institutes, along with the extramural talent of researchers in academia and industry. Having this structure allows for an environment in which research teams come together with their diverse expertise to solve the complex problems of cancer and HIV/AIDS.
High-Risk, High-Impact Research
While working in collaborative teams, CCR scientists are encouraged to pursue high-risk research that has great potential for accelerating the progress in cancer research. An example of this high-risk research can be seen from CCR investigators Doug Lowy, M.D., and John Schiller, Ph.D., who both translated 20 years of research on papilloma viral particles into technology needed for production of a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. This is just one of the many examples of CCR's dedication to using its high-risk research mentality to achieve results that can translate directly to the patient.
CCR's Clinical Program
CCR's clinical program at the NIH Clinical Center is patient-centered and accounts for 40 percent of the total medical effort at the NIH Clinical Research Center. The program treats approximately 4,000 to 5,000 patients per year in 200 studies, enrolling 800 new patients each year. Intensive translational studies of specific cancers and diseases assure each patient of careful, customized, cutting-edge care, while permitting research clinicians to move their clinical observations quickly back to the laboratory for refinement. CCR researchers study rare cancers and diseases that are poorly understood and may not be considered commercially viable for development by Pharma. Some rare diseases treated at CCR include: xeroderma pigmentosum, cutaneous t-cell lymphoma, AIDS-related primary central nervous system lymphoma, mesothelioma, and malignant gliomas.
Technology and Partnerships
CCR recognizes the importance of building strong scientific partnerships. By partnering with public and private institutions, CCR accelerates the movement of scientific discoveries to the marketplace for the ultimate benefit of public health. CCR continues to fulfill its mission through technology development by supporting translational research projects, technology development, and technology transfer to its industrial collaborators. This is done by establishing Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), clinical trial agreements, collaborative research agreements with partners, filing patent applications, executing licenses, and reinvesting the royalties it receives from inventions to support training, new equipment purchases, and high-impact research. CCR accounts for approximately one-half of all CRADAs operating throughout the NIH. Over the past several years, CCR has made the collaboration between individual investigators and individual companies much easier by implementing umbrella CRADAs with multiple industrial partners. This type of CRADA allows large-scale collaborations without duplicative research efforts, redundant legal review and approval, as well as expedites the drug development process.
Furthermore, when CCR scientists produce research tools, technology and inventions, NCI and NIH technology transfer staff help them file invention reports, license their technology, and establish collaboration agreements or transfer valuable research materials to our collaborators. Material transfer agreements enable innovative intramural researchers to share valuable research tools with the extramural community. Last year, over 1,000 research materials through material transfer agreements were shared with the extramural research community. These materials included cell lines, reagents, vaccines, antibodies, plasmids, clones, transgenic animals, assays, and software.
A few of CCR's commercial successes in fighting cancer and HIV include:
- Gardasil: A vaccine against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)
- Kepivance: Improving the quality of life for cancer patients
- Videx/Hivid: A reverse transcriptase inhibitor
- Prezista: A protease inhibitor
- Vitravene: An antisense drug.
To learn more about CCR's numerous technologies and products, visit http://www.ott.nih.gov/ccr/default.aspx
CCR Trains for the Future
Finally, CCR sees the importance of training the cancer researchers of the future and therefore has numerous programs offered to students at various levels of training, enabling valuable mentoring to occur. Early-career scientists work side-by-side with experienced ones in basic, clinical, and translational laboratories. Training the next generation of scientific leaders starts as early as high school and continues to postdoctoral training and clinical fellowship programs.
