BC Cancer Foundation - Winter 2015 - (Page 10)

hundreds of new drugs have been uncovered, which are both more effective and have fewer side effects. Today, experts recognize more than 60 different types of lymphoid cancers, all of which are treatable and many of which can be cured. Even with positive outcomes now seen for the majority of lymphoid cancers, experts like Dr. Randy Gascoyne, distinguished scientist and co-director of the CLC, are continuing to push the research agenda forward, hoping to achieve better results for B.C. patients. Solving the Mystery of Treatment Failure Game-changing test developed for lymphoid cancer W ith a brilliant team of researchers, a comprehensive tumour tissue bank and an outcomes database, the BC Cancer Agency's Centre for Lymphoid Cancer (CLC) has become one of the top lymphoid cancer research centres in the world. 10 PARTNERS IN DISCOVERY Lymphoid cancer research is a high priority for both the BC Cancer Agency and BC Cancer Foundation-it remains the fourth most common cancer type seen in Canadians and has increased in incidence over the last 70 years. But as researchers' knowledge of the biology of lymphoma has expanded, DISCOVERING THE CAUSES OF TREATMENT FAILURE This year, approximately 300 British Columbians will be diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, a common sub-type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. While many follicular lymphoma patients can initially be treated successfully with a single therapy, patients who present symptoms or have larger tumour masses require a combination of drugs. For these "high-risk" patients, the five-year survival rate is only 50 per cent in contrast to 90 per cent for "lowrisk" patients. Dr. Gascoyne, together with PhD candidate Dr. Robert Kridel and collaborators in Germany and the United States, has spent the past two years studying the genetic factors that cause treatment failure in follicular lymphoma. His goal: to stratify highand low-risk patients in order to offer the most precise and effective therapies at the time of diagnosis, before the disease has a chance to progress. COLLABORATION BENEFITING THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY Like so many of the most successful cancer research initiatives, a desire to locate the cause of treatment

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BC Cancer Foundation - Winter 2015

BC Cancer Foundation - Winter 2015
Opening Thoughts
Healthy Insights
Why I Give
Researcher Profile
A Monumental Leap in Cancer Treatment
Solving the Mystery of Treatment Failure
A Picture with Life- Saving Properties
Legacy Giving

BC Cancer Foundation - Winter 2015