Summer 2005

New Collaboration Supports Prevention Research

by Kathy Steligo

FORCE is collaborating with the prestigious H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa to improve research and care for families affected by hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. The three-year project encourages individuals with a personal or family history of cancer to enroll in the Family Cancer Genetics Network Registry (FCGN), a national centralized communication link between high-risk individuals and the research community.

The registry is a win-win situation: scientists get the clinical study data they need, while participants receive regular updates and study results. Ultimately, this work will lead to better prevention, treatment and surveillance options, and improved care.

Registry information will be used to answer questions about hereditary cancers, including:

• How common are inherited genetic changes that cause cancer?
• Why do some people with inherited genetic changes develop cancer and others do not?
• How does a person’s lifestyle interact with genetic changes to cause or prevent cancer?
• How can this research help prevent cancer?
• How can we improve cancer treatments?
• How can people cope better with cancer and cancer risk?

Rebecca Sutphen, MD, Director of the Family Cancer Genetics Network and Director of the Clinical Genetics program at Moffitt, has high expectations for the collaboration. “We expect this partnership to propel cancer prevention research forward in a way that has never been possible before,” she said.

Visit www.fcgn.org or call 1-800-456-3434, extension 4990 for more information.

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute

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