Improving the Lives of People with Cancer
Human cancers are the sole focus of research at the CHRISTUS Stehlin Foundation. With this unique emphasis, the Foundation develops new investigational drugs and novel therapies that improve the prognoses for thousands of cancer patients.
Under the direction of the Foundation’s renowned laboratory director, Dr. Beppino Giovanella, discoveries in the lab are translated to point-of-care patient applications. Stehlin’s potent anticancer drug CZ48 currently is in Phase I human trials, a long and expensive process to determine the drug’s safety and efficacy in human cancer patients. Learn more about CZ48 and other Current Research Projects.
CZ48 is among the latest in a long history of Foundation innovations and breakthroughs. Stehlin researchers were instrumental in the development of Herceptin®, a drug widely-used in the fight against breast cancer. Dr. Giovanella pioneered the development and use of the immuno-suppressed “nude” mouse in cancer research. Stehlin scientists demonstrated the selective sensitivity of cancer cells to heat, and Dr. Stehlin pioneered the combination of heat and chemotherapy (hyperthermic perfusion) to treat patients with advanced melanomas of the arms and legs. Learn more about Foundation Achievements.
In 2011, the work of the dedicated Stehlin researchers was rewarded with the Foundation’s move to a new state-of-the-art 27,000 square foot laboratory. The facility almost doubles the space dedicated to research and boasts the latest equipment and technologies. Learn more about the Laboratory.
With the support and involvement of generous individuals, private foundations, and corporate partners, Stehlin researchers continue leading the fight to find a cure.
“I think it has been too easy to overlook what a progressive physician Dr. John Stehlin was, and how pivotal he was for the humane treatment of individuals with cancer. He changed the cancer landscape forever, and his work continues with the research the CHRISTUS Stehlin Foundation is doing today.”
Dr. Peter de Ipolyi,
Surgical Oncologist
Reasons for Hope
News
In Mice, Cancer Drug Shows Effect on Alzheimer's Symptoms
The cancer drug bexarotene quickly eliminates Alzheimer's disease-associated amyloid beta from the brain and reverses memory problems in mice, a new study finds. The results suggest that bexarotene could help the 5.4 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease.
Genetic Breakthrough for Brain Cancer in Children
An international research team has made a breakthrough that could change the way pediatric cancers are treated in the future. The researchers identified two genetic mutations responsible for up to 40 per cent of glioblastomas in children.
Skin Cancer Drug Approved
Erivedge (vismodegib) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat adult patients with basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer.
Targeted Therapies Offer Treatment Options for Advanced Kidney Cancer
For decades, oncologists had little reason to be optimistic about treating patients with advanced kidney cancer. But over the past 15 years, important discoveries have produced targeted therapies to treat cancer that has spread beyond the kidney (metastatic disease) and offer new directions for developing even more effective treatments.
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