An experimental drug that directly reduces fat by destroying the blood vessels that support it caused an 11 percent weight loss in obese rhesus monkeys in a month's time.

"Development of this compound for human use would provide a non-surgical way to actually reduce accumulated white fat, in contrast to current weight-loss drugs that attempt to control appetite or prevent absorption of dietary fat," says Renata Pasqualini, Ph.D., professor in MD Anderson's David H. Koch Center for Applied Research of Genitourinary Cancers.

"We're greatly encouraged to see substantial weight loss in a primate model of obesity that closely matches the human condition," Pasqualini says.

Treated monkeys had corresponding reductions in waist circumference and body mass index. Untreated control monkeys were largely unchanged during the study.

Imaging studies showed treated monkeys lost 38 % of their body fat, including 27 % of their abdominal fat, indicating that weight loss was caused by fat reduction and not the loss of other types of tissue.

Powel Brown on 10 Years' Progress in Cancer Prevention

When online news service MedPage Today wanted some perspective on cancer prevention progress during the past decade and prospects for greater improvement, it turned to Powel Brown, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of MD Anderson's Department of Clinical Cancer Prevention.

Brown was scientific program chairman for the 10th annual American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention meeting recently in Boston.

Watch Charles Bankhead's interview here. 

Anas Younes on Treatment of Hodgkin Lymphoma Relapse

Everyday Health  reported a story Friday on Hodgkin lymphoma relapse when its co-host, former Survivor champ and professional soccer player Ethan Zohen found himself encountering a recurrence. 

Anas Younes, M.D., professor in MD Anderson's Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma, provided expert commentary on therapeutic options for recurrent or resistant disease.

Read the story here.

 

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Wednesday awarded The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center 20 grants for research, a state-of-the-art core sequencing center and faculty recruitment totaling $44.5 million.

The core grant of $5.99 million funds a next-generation sequencing center at the Department of Molecular Carcinogenesis at the Science Park - Research Division in Smithville.   The facility will provide advanced capabilities for analyzing genetic variation and regulatory changes that drive cancer.

Principal investigator Jianjun Shen, Ph.D., associate professor in Molecular Carcinogenesis, says adding the Illumina HiSeq 1000 to the Molecular Biology Facility Core at the Science Park also will enhance longstanding collaborative research with The University of Texas at Austin, Texas State University and MD Anderson's Michale Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research in Bastrop.

Three grants, totaling $22 million are for recruitment of established cancer researchers to MD Anderson.

Sixteen MD Anderson scientists received multi-year individual investigator grants totaling $16.5 million addressing a range of issues such as inflammation, pain, metastasis and specific cancers: breast, colon, prostate, ovarian, head and neck, brain and blood malignancies.

Since CPRIT's launch in 2009, MD Anderson has been awarded 92 grants totaling $125.8 million.  The institute announced 67 new competitive, peer-reviewed grants worth $117.5 million on Wednesday.

Additional resources

CPRIT grant awards page with lists

Houston Chronicle Story

CPRIT news release