Defeating cancer together

World Community Grid is contributing to the fight to defeat cancer. The "Help Defeat Cancer" project will use the computational power of World Community Grid to provide the power to analyze a large number of cancer tissue microarrays (TMA) that will help doctors improve treatment and therapy planning for cancer patients.

Researchers from The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University and the University of Pennsylvania have created a web-based, robotic prototype that automatically analyzes, archives, shares, and creates images of digitized tissue microarrays. These microarrays allow scientists to better study cancer and its effects. World Community Grid will supply substantial supercomputer power to enable more complex comparisons to run much more efficiently.

"What this means is that the power of grid technology enables us to analyze hundreds of arrays simultaneously, allowing multiple experiments to be conducted within a shorter period of time," said Dr. David J. Foran, professor and lead researcher at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. "World Community Grid makes it possible to analyze in one day the number of specimens that would take approximately 130 years to complete using a traditional computer."

The researchers have received funding from the National Institutes of Health and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey. They will start by analyzing breast cancer, with head and neck cancers just around the corner.

The results will also give researchers better insight into which patient groups will most likely respond to certain treatments, as well as providing information for drug design in the future.

"Although tissue microarrays are not currently being used by physicians to render primary diagnoses, it does make it possible for researchers to determine the specific type and stage of cancer present and systematically investigate which therapies or combinations of treatments are most likely to be effective," said Dr. Foran.

A long-term goal for the cancer research community is to create a library of antigens and their role in disease progression so that future physicians can consult that resource to help them diagnose and provide the most effective treatment for patients with cancer. "In the future, one can imagine that specific courses of treatment will be prescribed for cancer patients based on whether a specific antigen is present or not," said Dr. Foran.

"It is a true testament to the quality of research being conducted at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey to be part of a project that could quite literally change the way cancer research is performed," stated Dr. William N. Hait, director of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and associated dean of Oncology programs and professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation is a World Community Grid partner. "This technology is especially exciting not only because it offers tremendous potential for breakthroughs in cancer research, but also because the Help Defeat Cancer project provides individuals with an easy way to get involved in the fight," said Mitch Stoller, president and CEO of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. "World Community Grid is a perfect fit for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and our belief that unity is strength. We will support this initiative by installing the software on all Foundation computers, and we encourage everyone with a computer to likewise assist in this critical work. Together, we can make a tremendous difference to people affected by cancer."