Why this matters:

• Cancer is the leading cause of increased health care in the U.S., costing an estimated $222 billion annually.

• Many types of cancer are preventable with screenings.
• Developing safe and effective ways to treat cancer helps minimize side effects for patients and improves survival rates.

Four dedicated researchers from Michigan State University have received grants totaling more than $3 million from the American Cancer Society, or ACS, to find new ways to prevent, detect, treat and help patients survive colorectal, breast and cervical cancer.

“We take our commitment to funding cutting-edge cancer research seriously and intend to do so well into the future,” said William Dahut, chief scientific officer at the ACS. “We are excited about the innovative projects we were able to fund and look forward to growing this investment. We are also thrilled to welcome these new grantees into our ACS Research Family and wish them the best of luck with their important work.”

Colorectal cancer prevention

Todd Lucas, a social and health psychologist and C.S. Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health with the MSU College of Human Medicine will be working on a team to improve the acceptance and use of take-home colorectal screening tests among African Americans. This work will be supported by a five-year $1.7 million grant from the ACS.

“The cure for cancer isn’t in the future,” Lucas said. “It’s here and now in the form of making use of recommended cancer screenings that are proven to save lives. When we can identify and treat early-stage colorectal cancer, five-year survivorship rates improve to 91%. And colorectal cancer screening can help prevent cancer by removing precancerous polyps.

“What motivates my why behind cancer research is wanting to ensure that parents get to celebrate holidays with their family or that grandparents are around to watch their grandbabies take their first step. It’s all about being there for those milestone moments in life. By understanding how people think and feel when considering cancer prevention and screening tools, we can address the barriers that are stopping people from making use of them.”

Breast cancer treatment

Bryan Smith is an associate professor of biomedical engineering with the MSU College of Engineering and has received a $792,000 grant to improve breast cancer therapy.

“Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women,” Smith said. “If you know anyone that has undergone breast cancer treatment, it can be volatile and challenging — and different types of cancers respond to treatment in different ways. Our lab is developing and testing a precision nanotherapy that treats breast cancer without the typical side effects, works to overcome cancer’s devious defenses and helps the body’s immune system operate aggressively and effectively within tumors. It is designed to reverse roadblocks that tumors typically throw up that keep other therapies such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy from working well.”

Breast cancer detection and treatment

Eran Andrechek is a professor in the Department of Physiology with the MSU College of Human Medicine. Andrechek and his team are using a $297,000 grant to study why breast cancer spreads to the liver and lymph nodes and how this can be blocked.

“When our lab discovered that the loss of a protein called E2F5 resulted in metastatic breast tumors that went to the liver, we got really excited,” said Andrechek. “If we can better understand how genes impact breast cancer, we can learn why cancers metastasize and where cancers are likely to spread. We want to know what drives these tumors to spread to specific organs. That would be a fantastic discovery for women with metastatic breast cancer since the metastasis is what results in mortality.”

Cervical cancer prevention

Olivia Aspiras is an academic research specialist in the Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health at the MSU College of Human Medicine. Aspiras received a $217,000 grant to develop culturally appropriate health messaging that educates African American parents about the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine and encourages them to get the vaccine for their vaccine-eligible children. Through her research, she aims to improve the outcomes of HPV-related cancers like cervical cancer.

“I wake up inspired every day in my goal to contribute to cancer prevention through my work on HPV vaccination,” Aspiras said. “The HPV vaccine can prevent over 90% of cancers caused by HPV infections and is a really important tool in the fight against cancer. I want to understand how people’s thoughts and feelings influence their decisions to obtain the HPV vaccine. By studying the processes that underlie decision-making, we can develop interventions that more effectively encourage people to engage in behaviors that support their health and reduce their risk for negative health outcomes like cancer.”

As the largest nongovernment nonprofit funding source of cancer research in the United States, the ACS Extramural Discovery Science program currently supports more than 700 research grants across the cancer continuum at more than 200 institutions.

With an investment of more than $5 billion since 1946, the ACS has funded 53 researchers who have gone on to be awarded the Nobel Prize. ACS funds many early-career investigators, giving the best and the brightest a chance to explore cutting-edge ideas at a time when they might not find funding elsewhere.