The Nation's Investment in Cancer Research
A Plan and Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2008
Prepared by the Director, National Cancer Institute as mandated by The National Cancer Act (P.L. 92-218)
Understanding the Causes and Mechanisms of Cancer
We will conduct and support basic, clinical, and population research to better understand how genetic, epigenetic, environmental, behavioral, and sociocultural factors relate to cancer. Our work will focus on the biologic processes that affect our resistance to or likelihood of developing cancer; allow cancer to start (initiation), grow (progression), and spread (metastasis); and cause it to regress or recur.
Today's Research
Research to discover the causes and mechanisms of cancer is essential to enable us to develop and apply treatments or interventions to keep cancers from starting or progressing. NCI's diverse portfolio of research projects and programs addresses this need, spanning research on cancer risk to studies on the process of metastasis. Examples of ongoing NCI research include:
- Identifying cancer risks associated with interactions between genes and both environmental and lifestyle factors
- Investigating cellular and molecular mechanisms of cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis
- Epigenetic pathways, genes, and proteins
- Factors related to cancer development, including certain viruses, angiogenesis (new blood vessel growth), and the movement of cells within the body
- Normal cell and molecular biology
- Cell metabolism and growth
- Structure and function of genes and proteins
- Developmental biology and cell-to-cell interactions
- Understanding how cancer risk factors disrupt normal cells
Tomorrow's Strategies
Cancer is a complex set of diseases that must be understood from many perspectives. NCI will use the following strategies to pinpoint the causes and mechanisms of cancer:
- Increase our understanding of behavioral, environmental, genetic, and epigenetic causes of cancer and how they interact.
- Gain a full understanding of how changes in genes can cause cancer to develop.
- Improve cancer diagnosis through an integrative approach to improving our understanding of:
- Normal cellular and molecular biology
- Macroenvironmental influences (i.e., outside the body)
- Microenvironmental influences (i.e., within the body)
- Apply new technologies to expand our knowledge of cancer risk factors and biologic mechanisms.
- Investigate links between cancer and other human diseases.
Moving Research Forward
… through Identifying and Understanding Cancer Risk Progression
NCI supports large-scale studies to identify exposures, lifestyles, and genes that affect cancer risk. For example, scientists linked recent, rapidly rising rates of esophageal cancers to two factors: increasing rates of obesity and gastrointestinal acid reflux, which increases the risk of a pre-malignant condition called Barrett's esophagus.
NCI also supports research to understand the many factors involved in a normal cell becoming cancerous and spreading to other parts of the body. Basic laboratory and animal research provides clues about the inner workings of cells that would otherwise be beyond our reach.
…and Progress in Pursuit of our Goal
- Understanding the Role of Bone Marrow Cells in Metastasis. A recent study in mice shows that normal bone marrow cells may play an important role in metastasis, the spread of cancer. The researchers replaced the bone marrow cells of the mice with bone marrow cells tagged green with a biochemical marker, so they could be tracked. Then the researchers injected the mice with red-tagged cancer cells that were expected to travel to the lungs. However, the bone marrow cells reached the lungs first, appearing to prepare a niche for the cancer cells to use when they arrived in the lungs. When the researchers inhibited the migration of the bone marrow cells, they prevented metastases from forming in the mice. Further research will explore how cancer cells recruit bone marrow cells and use them to establish new tumors. This may help researchers learn how to stop the movement of bone marrow cells as a way to prevent metastasis.
- Understanding the Normal Biology of Aging. NCI researchers reported that a gene known for its link to a premature aging syndrome, Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), also appears to play a role in the normal aging process. Mutations in a gene called LMNA produce a faulty form of the protein lamin A that has been linked to HGPS. Investigators found that, compared with cells in young individuals, cells from HGPS patients and those of healthy older individuals shared many of the same cellular defects. Laboratory experiments showed that the lamin A protein probably has a role in causing the age-related defects. A better understanding of the mechanisms of normal and premature aging will help scientists understand the molecular mechanisms involved in creating the microenvironment required for a cell to become cancerous.
