Largest cancer center in US launches major initiative to cure 8 forms of the disease

The nation's largest cancer center is launching a massive "moonshot" effort against eight specific forms of the disease, similar to the all-out push for space exploration 50 years ago.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston expects to spend as much as $3 billion on the project over the next 10 years and already has "tens of millions" of dollars in gifts to jump start it now, said its president, Dr. Ronald DePinho.

One of the cancers is myelodysplastic syndrome. "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts has that kind and had a bone marrow transplant to treat it on Thursday. The others are especially deadly forms of breast and ovarian cancer, along with lung, prostate, melanoma and two types of leukemia.

The project aims to find cures and lower deaths. Although no overall benchmarks have been set, individual projects for various cancers have specific goals.

With genetic information and more precise drugs, "we have many of the tools we need to pick the fight of the 21st century" and find ways to defeat these cancers, DePinho said.

Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, which has no role in the project, praised DePinho's effort.

"I'm thrilled to see somebody take the lead," Brawley said. "The results that I see him promising, in my mind are reasonable," both in terms of raising money and fighting cancer.

Cancer death rates have been falling since the 1990s at an average of more than 1 percent per year but the disease remains a top killer worldwide. In the United States this year, estimates are that more than 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer, and more than 500,000 will die from it.

The MD Anderson program was inspired by the goal President John F. Kennedy announced in 1962 to put a man on the moon by the end of that decade. He described it to Congress that May and in a speech in September at Rice University, a mile from MD Anderson.

The Houston cancer center treats 112,000 patients a year and has been building a database of tumor samples and their genetic characteristics, especially of breast and ovarian cancers.

A year ago, when DePinho became its new president, he started a competition among its researchers to submit ideas for how to make fresh inroads against the disease. Six teams were chosen to tackle the eight cancers.

Each team has specific goals, ranging from basic research to clinical trials that test treatments, biomarkers and diagnostics. Some projects are aimed at novel prevention methods -- a mandatory role for any of the federally funded National Comprehensive Cancer Centers, DePinho said.

The teams will focus on personalizing treatment according to an individual's tumor genes, real-time assessment of the effectiveness of therapies being tried, better diagnoses and early detection and reducing side effects of treatment.

For example, one project will jointly target a deadly type of ovarian cancer and "triple-negative breast cancer" -- breast tumors whose growth is not fueled by estrogen, progesterone or the gene that the drug Herceptin targets. The cancers share some striking similarities at the genetic and molecular level and treatments for them are converging, MD Anderson scientists say.

Scientists plan to study one cancer pathway and how nearby tissue influences the cancer's growth. They also hope within five years to find a way to detect ovarian cancer early. Experts have recommended against routinely screening health women for ovarian cancer now because methods to do so are too flawed.

Money for all of the moonshot projects will come from foundations, gifts from individuals, grants, revenues from treating the additional patients the center expects to attract, and patents and royalties from discoveries, MD Anderson officials said. That will be on top of the $700 million the cancer center spends each year now on research.

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West Nile virus not backing down

Human cases of West Nile virus disease are continuing to increase. 

As of Tuesday, state health departments have reported at least 2,636 cases; 118 of them fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These figures are the highest they've been through the second week of September for any year since 2003 in terms of total cases reported. Public health officials say aggressive random testing in 2003 boosted the overall figures for that year, but the number of severe cases in 2012 is the highest reported this time of year since West Nile virus was first detected in the U.S. in 1999.

"We still believe that this year's outbreak is the largest to date and certainly the most serious," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases.

Although the exact reasons behind the severity of this year's outbreak remain unclear, experts believe unusually high temperatures may have been a contributing factor.

The numbers are up more than 30 percent from last week, when public health officials reported 1,993 cases of West Nile virus in people and 87 fatalities.

Although the total case numbers continue to increase, CDC officials say they believe this year's outbreak may have already peaked in mid- to late-August, and they expect it to taper off during or after October, following the course of previous West Nile outbreaks.

Four out of five people infected with West Nile virus do not show any symptoms. However, up to 20 percent develop flu-like symptoms, and about one in 150 develops severe symptoms such as high fever, paralysis or other neurological disorders.

Public health officials say people can reduce their risk of exposure to West Nile by maintaining screens on windows and doors, draining standing water, using bug repellant and wearing long pants and sleeves, especially during dusk and dawn when many mosquito species are most active.

According to the CDC, mosquitoes initially contract the virus by feeding on infected birds and then spread the disease to humans they bite. Although the virus is not transmissible through casual human contact, such as touching or kissing, there are rare instances of its spread through blood transfusions, organ transplants and from mother to baby during breastfeeding or pregnancy.

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CDC: Tainted cheese linked to death, illnesses

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says ricotta cheese tainted with listeria bacteria is linked to 14 illnesses and at least one death.

The imported Italian ricotta salata cheese distributed by Forever Cheese, Inc., of New York is linked to illnesses in 11 states and the District of Columbia. Forever Cheese issued a recall of one lot-- 800 wheels of ricotta salata, or roughly 4,800 pounds -- on Monday.

The cheese was distributed to retail stores and restaurants in California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington between June 20 and August 9.

Jeff DiMeo of Forever Cheese said the recalled Frescolina brand ricotta salata cheese is from one batch manufactured in Italy's Puglia region but would not name the Italian company that manufactured it. The Food and Drug Administration identified the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes bacteria in an uncut sample of the cheese.

Most people who consumed the cheese would not know where it came from because it was distributed in large wheels for retailers or restaurants to break down into smaller servings or packages. Ricotta salata is a salty, white cheese made from pasteurized sheep's milk. It is not the same as soft ricotta cheese sold in tubs and used to make lasagna.

DiMeo said he would generally advise his customers not to hold on to the cheese for more than 30 days.

The CDC, however, said the ricotta can have up to a four-month shelf life, so some consumers may still have it in their homes. The company and the government advised consumers who may still have the cheese to ask retailers where it came from or just throw it out to be safe.

Listeria is rare but deadlier than well-known pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli. It is most dangerous to pregnant women, the elderly and others with compromised immune systems.

It was not immediately clear how many deaths were caused by the listeria outbreak. The CDC said listeriosis contributed to "at least one" of two deaths in New York and Nebraska but did not elaborate. A third deceased person in Minnesota was infected with listeriosis linked to the cheese but that is not thought to be the primary cause of death, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health said.

Three people from Maryland reported becoming ill from the strain of listeria linked to the ricotta. One person each from California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia also reported an illness. Two of the illnesses were in newborn babies, the CDC said.

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West Nile virus not backing down

Human cases of West Nile virus disease are continuing to increase. 

As of Tuesday, state health departments have reported at least 2,636 cases; 118 of them fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These figures are the highest they've been through the second week of September for any year since 2003 in terms of total cases reported. Public health officials say aggressive random testing in 2003 boosted the overall figures for that year, but the number of severe cases in 2012 is the highest reported this time of year since West Nile virus was first detected in the U.S. in 1999.

"We still believe that this year's outbreak is the largest to date and certainly the most serious," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases.

Although the exact reasons behind the severity of this year's outbreak remain unclear, experts believe unusually high temperatures may have been a contributing factor.

The numbers are up more than 30 percent from last week, when public health officials reported 1,993 cases of West Nile virus in people and 87 fatalities.

Although the total case numbers continue to increase, CDC officials say they believe this year's outbreak may have already peaked in mid- to late-August, and they expect it to taper off during or after October, following the course of previous West Nile outbreaks.

Four out of five people infected with West Nile virus do not show any symptoms. However, up to 20 percent develop flu-like symptoms, and about one in 150 develops severe symptoms such as high fever, paralysis or other neurological disorders.

Public health officials say people can reduce their risk of exposure to West Nile by maintaining screens on windows and doors, draining standing water, using bug repellant and wearing long pants and sleeves, especially during dusk and dawn when many mosquito species are most active.

According to the CDC, mosquitoes initially contract the virus by feeding on infected birds and then spread the disease to humans they bite. Although the virus is not transmissible through casual human contact, such as touching or kissing, there are rare instances of its spread through blood transfusions, organ transplants and from mother to baby during breastfeeding or pregnancy.

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