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Cancer
OHRI scientists are playing a significant role in efforts to bring cancer under control, with research focused on the understanding, prevention and treatment of cancers of the breast, colon, lung, brain, ovaries and other sites.
The Institute's cancer research is concentrated primarily in the Centre for Cancer Therapeutics (CCT), which was formed in 1995 when cancer researchers across the University of Ottawa medical school campus were brought together under the leadership of Dr. Michael McBurney. Topics under investigation include angiogenesis, protein turnover and the cell cycle, regulation of oncogene expression, activity and translation, and the response of cells to genotoxic insults such as radiation. Recently, CCT scientists have developed a major focus on translational research - translating findings at the laboratory bench into new and innovative treatments for patients. One of the most promising is the development and testing of oncolytic viruses to target and kill cancer cells. Targeting cancer cells with engineered drugs and viruses is also underway in studies involving both laboratory and clinical investigators.
The creation of the Corrine Boyer Chair in Ovarian Cancer Research, held by CCT and OHRI scientist Dr. Barbara Vanderhyden, is helping to significantly increase efforts to combat an aggressive cancer that is affecting a growing number of women in our maturing population. Scientists within the Hormones, Growth and Development Program are investigating the delicate balance between cell death and cell survival genes in the development of ovarian cancer, one of the most lethal gynaecological cancers in the Western world. They are also working on methods to stop the spread of cancer (metastasis) through their study of pro protein convertases, or PCS, the enzymes that cleave the growth factors necessary for metastasis to occur. Other scientists are investigating steroid hormone action in breast and prostate cancer, genetic mutations that lead to cancer, new techniques to overcome resistance to radiation and chemotherapy and the development of gene therapy for cancer.
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