By Lynn Gorham

The University of Colorado Cancer Center is a consortium organization of three universities and five institutions: University of Colorado Denver, University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado State University, The Children’s Hospital, University of Colorado Hospital, Denver Heath, National Jewish Health and the Denver VA. UCCC’s eight programs range from those working in areas of basic science to cancer prevention. Work in these programs is supported by 16 shared core services, located on our three university member campuses. UCCC is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in the eight-state Rocky Mountain region. We are one of 40 NCI-CCCs in the United States.

Organizational Achievements

• UCCC formalized its clinical cancer outreach program by appointing Dr. Michael Glodé as associate director for outreach, and hiring Shelly Gregory as patient care coordinator.
• Dr. Stephen Hunger, section chief of Pediatric Oncology/Hematology at University of Colorado Denver and director of The Children’s Hospital Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, joined the UCCC executive committee as associate director for pediatric sciences.
• The University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine was awarded a $75 million grant by NIH to develop the Colorado Clinical Translation Science Institute. The CTSI application was developed with significant input from UCCC members, and many CTSI features were modeled on similar elements that UCCC has successfully implemented.
• UCCC added 17 full and 18 associate members, bringing the total to 427 members from three universities and five organizations.
• In 2007-2008, UCCC members published 807 articles, of which 107 were intra-programmatic, 82 were inter-programmatic and 66 were both. UCCC continues to be one of the most collaborative cancer research organizations in the United States.
• UCCC members saw an increase in the number of funded projects last year, from 683 to 755, and funding increased by 0.75 percent to $110.8 million.

Research Achievements

• Dr. Steve Anderson, in collaboration with Drs. Pepper Schedin, Ann Thor, Natalie Serkova and Paul MacLean, received funding from the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure to investigate whether a common diabetes drug will prevent tumor growth in breast cancer.
• Members of the UCCC Lung Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence, led by Interim Director Dr. Tim Byers, found that abnormal cells collected from lung sputum are a marker for increased lung cancer risk. There is currently no good screening test for lung cancer.
• Dr. Doug Thamm’s group created the first xenograft model of canine T-cell lymphomas with humoral hypercalcaemia of malignancy. The mouse model will help scientists test new agents against this highly aggressive cancer type, which affects one-third of dogs with lymphoma.
• Dr. Ann Thor showed that Paclitaxel is an effective treatment for node-positive HER2+ breast cancer, regardless of whether patients are estrogen-receptor positive or negative. 
• Dr. Lia Gore, who leads the Pediatric Oncology Experimental Therapeutic InvestigatorsConsortium, showed for the first time that a class of drugs that helps prevent acute and delayed nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy was generally well tolerated and effective in adolescents, and that the adult dosing of these drugs is appropriate for adolescents.
• Dr. Natalie Ahn, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, used her unique proteomic skills to discover how the Wnt signaling pathway leads to cell movement of melanoma cells.

Clinical Trials Achievements

• UCCC’s adult clinical trials program, which operates mainly at University of Colorado Hospital, enrolled 895 patients on therapeutic clinical trials and 6,476 on cancer control trials. The 4 percent decrease over 2007 is attributed to completion of some large cancer control trials.
• Pediatric cancer clinical trials, run at The Children’s Hospital, included a 90 percent enrollment rate: 168 out of 187 patients diagnosed in 2008 were enrolled.

Patient Care Achievements

Most UCCC member-provided cancer care happens at consortium member institutions University of Colorado Hospital and The Children’s Hospital.

In 2008:

• University of Colorado Hospital cancer-related outpatient visits grew by a total 11 percent, with a marked increase of nearly 7 percent each in infusion procedures and radiation visits. To meet demand for chemotherapy treatment, UCH expanded infusion center hours during the week and added Saturday hours.
• After moving to the Anschutz Medical Campus in 2007, University of Colorado Hospital cancer inpatient admissions increased by 17 percent. 
• UCH’s newly FACT-accredited bone marrow transplantation program and new dedicated inpatient space for cancer and BMT patients helped increase inpatient days by 32 percent. 
• UCCC physicians provided care for an average 181 patients each month at four rural and mountain Colorado hospitals.
• UCH created two cancer survivorship programs with funding from the UCCC Lance Armstrong Foundation LIVESTRONG^TM grant. The TACTIC clinic, a collaboration with The Children’s Hospital, targets adult survivors of pediatric cancers. The THRIVE clinic targets adult cancer survivors.
• At The Children’s Hospital, the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders saw a 24 percent increase in cancer and bone marrow  transplantation admissions. Children’s sees about 13,600 outpatient cancer visits each year.