Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) (University-Wide Interdisciplinary Research Center)

Director: Edward Partridge, MD

Established: 1970

Mission and Demographics

The mission of the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) is to provide the most up-to-date and effective care to cancer patients; to advance the nation's scientific understanding of cancer; and to translate new knowledge into improved diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The Center currently has 338 faculty representing 38 departments and 9 schools at UAB.

Center Research

In 1972 the CCC was designated by the National Cancer Center (NCI) as one of the first eleven comprehensive centers in the country. It has maintained this designation for 38 years. Considered among the elite of cancer research centers, the CCC’s translational and clinical research programs include Experimental Therapeutics, Women’s Cancer, and Neuro-Oncology. The CCC also places approximately 750 patients on therapy trials and 2000-4000 on non-therapeutic trials each year. Its specialized facilities and equipment include tissue procurement, gene therapy facility, mass spectrometry/proteomics, biostatistics and informatics, in-vivo imaging, and NMR. The Center’s main areas of basic research include programs in Immunology, Cancer Cell Biology, Structural Biology and Drug Discovery and Development.

The Center’s major projects include the following: Death Receptor Antibodies, research on translated inhibitors of purine nucleoside phosphorylase, research on KLF-4 and other novel oncogenes in breast cancer, cervical dysplasia/nutrition and papilloma studies, targeted immunotherapy studies, genetically engineered herpes brain tumor therapy, novel retinoid chemoprevention gene therapy of ovarian cancer, and community-based participatory research in cancer disparities.

In 1992, the NCI established the Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs) to promote interdisciplinary research and to speed the bi-directional exchange between basic and clinical science to move basic research findings from the laboratory to applied settings involving patients and populations. The goal of the SPORE program is to bring to clinical care settings novel ideas that have the potential to reduce cancer incidence and mortality, improve survival, and to improve the quality of life. Marking the superior research environment found at UAB, the NCI has awarded the CCC with three SPORE grants for breast ($13.8 million over 5 years), brain ($13 million over 5 years), and pancreas ($4.5 million over 5 years) cancer research.

Significant Community Partnerships

The CCC has established partnerships with the Morehouse School of Medicine and Tuskegee University. The goal of these partnerships is to make a significant contribution to the elimination of the cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality gap seen between Whites and African-Americans. The partnerships are in the areas of cancer research (basic, clinical, and cancer control), minority cancer research training and career development, and effective cancer control outreach to urban and rural African-American communities.

Training

The CCC also offers a number of training opportunities. In addition to multiple cancer sub-specialty fellowships, the Center houses a T32 Research Training Grant in Surgical Oncology funded by NCI. The Deep South Network for Cancer Control also has training programs for undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate minority trainees as does the Morehouse School of Medicine/Tuskegee University/UABCCC Partnership.

For additional information please visit the CCC website: www.ccc.uab.edu

Approved by: Edward Partridge, MD, Director

Date: April 24, 2008

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