Overview
Our long-term
goal is to develop a Center of Excellence in Gene Therapy at LSUHSC-Shreveport.
The Center would support interdisciplinary research designed to understand
on a cellular and molecular level the causes of human disease and to develop
rational gene therapeutic approaches for the treatment of diseases. The Center
would consist of a number of interdisciplinary research programs based on
established basic science research efforts at LSUHSC focused on understanding
the molecular and cell biology of different groups of diseases. These programs
would include areas of expertise at LSUHSC-S, including cancer, neuro-degenerative
diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, we will develop ongoing
LSUHSC pre-clinical studies into phase I trials and develop an infrastructure
that will foster recruitment of extramural phase II and phase III clinical
trials. We envision that the Center would develop strong ties with the Biomedical
Research Foundation to assist in the recruitment of biotechnology companies
to the Shreveport area and to aid in the training of students in the area
of molecular biotechnology. The center would also maintain a number of core
research facilities that would be made available to all LSUHSC research scientists.
The gene therapy program at LSUHSC-S is presently
composed of basic and clinical researchers across several Dept.s (Urology,
Biochemistry, Otolaryngology, Cell Biology, Microbiology, Pharmacology, and
Medicine) with a wide variety of approaches to cancer gene therapy. These
researchers are linked by their main focus on applying basic science research
to the clinic, resulting in tangible benefits to patients in the near term.
The proposed expansion of this program would build upon the research of seven
full time faculty members at LSUHSC-S with over $1.5 million in grant funding.
These faculty members already constitute an impressive nucleus for developing
a solid program in gene therapy of cancer. The fruits of this effort are now
seen in our expansion into the field of clinical gene therapy with undertaking
of a phase III trial of head and neck cancer with p53 adenovirus. This trial
is sponsored by Aventis and is one of very few gene therapy trials, which
aims to go beyond establishing the proof of principle to produce a clinical
benefit to our patients. As more basic research projects near completion,
they are expected to be available for translation into clinical trials. The
potential for cancer gene therapy at LSUHSC-S exists because of unique attributes
to this campus. First, much of the work within the FWCC is translational-bedside
problems coming back to the laboratory and then the results of the research
being directly applicable to clinical problems. Second, the FWCC has developed
the most active clinical cancer research program within Louisiana: the FWCC
places more minority patients on clinical trials than any other institution
in the United States; the FWCC is a leader in placing patients with breast
cancer, prostate cancer, and leukemias and lymphomas onto clinical trials;
the FWCC bone marrow transplantation program is the busiest of the three in
Louisiana.
