How The Princess Margaret is Conquering Cancer with Your Help
Every day scientists are unraveling the mystery that is cancer. The momentum is building as more effective treatments become available, as the disease is detected at earlier stages, and as people live longer following cancer treatment with a good quality of life.
Lives are being saved right now. And it’s happening right here, each and every day, in Canada. At The Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute. At The Princess Margaret, one of the Top 5 cancer research centres in the world.
Proud to to be working at a leading cancer centre, the scientists and clinical investigators at The Princess Margaret strive every day to gain a deeper understanding of how cancer begins in order to develop more effective therapies for the patients facing this terrible disease. We could not be more grateful for your support in making this happen.
Since 2008, the Ride To Conquer Cancer has raised an amazing $45 million. This funding ensures that the most promising cancer research programs can be initiated and continue uninterrupted at The Princess Margaret.
Where We Are in 2011
The past 30 years have produced an explosion in our knowledge of the basic biology of cancer. We now know that:
- cancer is a disease of our genes
- not all cancer cells in a tumour are equal (some cells can sustain or ‘re-grow’ a tumour, while others cannot)
- the immune system does try to prevent tumour formation
Recent Research Advances
Drs. Frances Shepherd, Ming Tsao, and Igor Jurisica have identified a set of genes (termed a ‘gene signature’) that helps determine whether certain types of lung cancer patients will benefit from chemotherapy in combination with surgery. This discovery means that patients will only get chemo if their specific cancer responds to it.
Drs. Brad Wouters and Michael Milosevic are teaming up to understand and exploit properties that are specific and unique about the environment in which tumours grow. For example, tumour environments tend to be low in oxygen with poor blood flow. New drugs that take advantage of these properties are being tested.
Conquering Cancer
Our researchers take determined and innovative approaches to their work. Click on the image below to learn more about some of the groundbreaking programs that the funds you raise have and will continue to support.
Thanks to the major insights and discoveries of cancer biologists working at The Princess Margaret, there is more hope than ever before. We know the enemy now—and though it is wily and resourceful, it is not invincible.
Cancer medicine of the future will look dramatically different than it does today. First, using molecular diagnostics and ever-improving imaging devices, we will detect tumours of ever smaller size. We will remove them using robotic, image-guided surgeries that are easier on the body.
The ‘microscope’ of the future will be a DNA sequencer. Tumours will not be diagnosed as only ‘breast’ or ‘colon’ cancer. Rather, new technology will determine the complete spectrum of genetic mutations in each tumour. Then specific therapies that target the Achilles heel of each tumour can be prescribed. If targeted agents alone won’t do the job, the immune system will be mobilized to eliminate the tumour and/or prevent tumour recurrence. Targeted therapies and immunotherapies will be used in combination to deliver maximum benefit for the patient.
The future is now. To finally defeat cancer will take hard work, and a lot of it, and it will require substantial additional investment. With your help, the tipping point in the fight against cancer is at hand, and the team at The Princess Margaret are committed to one goal: CONQUER CANCER IN OUR LIFETIME
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