Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover to visit Palm Beach in January

Peter Brown, President of Israel Cancer Association USA, has announced a scheduled appearance by one of Israel’s most extraordinary scientists, Nobel Laureate Dr. Aaron Ciechanover. “Israel Cancer Association USA is extremely pleased to have Dr. Ciechanover, an ICA funded researcher, appear in Palm Beach for scientific presentations and cocktail receptions on January 6th and 7th. Dr. Ciechanover will address the private gatherings of ICA USA donors on the topic of ‘Cancer therapy and personalized medicine – there is hope at the end of the tunnel’.” The events are by invitation only, with a minimum gift toward cancer research.

Dr. Ciechanover was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004 for his discovery with Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. His findings ultimately led to the creation of a vaccine for cervical cancer, which has had a global impact on the health of young women.

ICA USA funded scientist identifies protein that may slow down pancreatic cancer

Dr. Ido Wolf, an ICA USA funded scientist, and his team have discovered a protein that seems to prevent the growth of pancreatic cancer. The protein, klotho, could possibly be effective against other aggressive cancers, as well.

Researchers at the Cancer Research Center at Sheba medical Center studied the behavior of klotho, a natural hormone emitted by the brain and kidneys that is known to retard the aging process. When the protein was injected, cancerous growths stopped spreading and began to shrink. The researchers first noticed that healthy pancreatic cells contained klotho, whereas cancerous cells did not. Researchers hope that testing pancreatic cells for klotho may provide an earlier indication of the presence of cancer.

Dr. Wolf is head of Sheba Medical Center’s oncology department and one of the labs at the Cancer Research Center. On his research team were Dr. Lilach Abramovitz and Dr. Tami Rubinek. His study was funded by Nancy and Peter Brown.

ICA USA funded scientist demonstrates why DNA breaks down in cancer cells

In laboratory work carried out at the Hebrew University, Professor Batsheva Kerem of the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences and her Ph.D. student Assaf C. Bester demonstrated that abnormal activation of cellular proliferation driving many different cancer types leads to insufficient levels of the DNA building blocks (nucleotides) required to support normal DNA replication.

Then, using laboratory cultures in which cancerous cells were introduced, the researchers were able to show that through external supply of those DNA building blocks it is possible to reactivate normal DNA synthesis, thus negating the damage caused by the cancerous cells and the cancerous potential. This is the first time that this has been demonstrated anywhere.

Read More...

Israel Cancer Association partners with
Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
to defeat breast cancer

May 2, 2011 – Two of the most powerful international supporters of cancer research have joined together for a research project being conducted by Professor Ron Apte at Ben Gurion University in Israel. The 2011-2012 Israel Cancer Association Research Fellowship sponsored by Susan G. Komen for the Cure® was announced by Nancy Brinker, the organization’s founder and CEO. “It is an honor for us to partner with Israel Cancer Association (ICA) for the two-year study of tumor dormancy and relapse in breast cancer.

Read More...