Our goal is to extend the lives and eliminate the suffering of patients through a comprehensive understanding of the interactions of the nervous system with cancer, thereby enabling a holistic treatment of both cancer and the patient.
The Cancer Neuroscience Program is a groundbreaking research initiative uniting oncology and neuroscience and represents the next frontier in cancer research and therapy. This innovative program will allow us to elucidate the complex interactions between the nervous system and cancer and fill existing critical knowledge gaps. Based on these novel insights, our goal is to develop innovative therapies for various cancers and to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life by addressing neurological effects of cancer and its treatment. By doing this, we can advance our understanding not only in cancer, but also in other neurological and neurodegenerative diseases.
The program was created and is currently led by Jim Ray, Ph.D., Vinay Puduvalli, M.D., and Frederick Lang, M.D., who, despite their diverse scientific backgrounds, recognized the growing importance of the interaction between the nervous system and various cancers and envisioned a comprehensive one-of-a-kind program that would address all aspects of cancer neuroscience. They also recognized the unique opportunity for MD Anderson to take on a leadership role in this field. Jian Hu, Ph.D. joined the program as its scientific director and has since helped expand the program. The combined strengths of the leaders and the goals of the program have facilitated its designation as a signature priority program in MD Anderson.
Research Themes
The program is organized into four interconnected scientific themes with currently funded initiatives as follows:
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HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center today announced a $16.25 million gift from Howard and Susan Elias to accelerate brain tumor and cancer neuroscience research, an emerging field focused on integrating the role of the nervous system in cancer. Howard Elias’ son, Harrison, was diagnosed with brain cancer and underwent successful surgery in 2000. Six years earlier, Howard’s father had died of glioblastoma. These separate diagnoses sparked a giving program over the years, leading to this latest gift which represents the Elias’ continued commitment to MD Anderson’s mission to end cancer and a belief in MD Anderson’s faculty as well as the emerging field of cancer neuroscience.
“Dr. Lang and the incredible team at MD Anderson saved my son’s life more than two decades ago,” said Howard, who has long supported the institution and recently retired as chief customer officer and president of services and digital at Dell Technologies. “Now is the time for us to increase our commitment so we can play a significant role in advancing cancer neuroscience research specifically focused on brain tumors and the nervous system. We want other families to have the chance to see their son grow up, like our family has.”
The Elias’ gift serves as the lead donation to concentrate cross-disciplinary research in cancer neuroscience at MD Anderson. The gift aims to extend patients’ lives and to eliminate their suffering through a comprehensive understanding of the interactions of the nervous system with cancer. Additionally, the Elias family’s generosity and foresight will provide secure, sustainable support for generations of researchers to come as they push the limits in searching for new therapies and cures.
“A future free from cancer is unattainable unless we work together,” said Peter WT Pisters, M.D., president of MD Anderson. “Howard and Susan’s generosity and passion will play a crucial role as we work in this emerging space for generations to come. On behalf of our patients and their families, we extend our heartfelt gratitude.”
Life-saving surgery sparks decades-long philanthropy
Harrison Elias was just shy of 7 years old when he was diagnosed with hypothalamic pilocytic astrocytoma, a form of brain cancer.
“Harrison, his mother and sisters were visiting at his grandparents in Michigan,” said Howard. “They were playing cards and Harrison’s hand flipped around to where his cards were showing. When he said he couldn’t control his hand, we knew immediately something was wrong.”
The initial prognosis the Elias family received was not very promising. They began intensive research and sought multiple opinions around the country. Since they were living in The Woodlands, a suburb of Houston at the time, one of those opinions they sought was from the number one center for cancer care located just across town — MD Anderson.
“We met with Dr. Joann Ater and will never forget her kindness and professionalism,” Howard said. “From there we were connected to Dr. Frederick Lang, who performed the surgery to resect Harrison’s brain tumor a few weeks later. We have stayed in touch with Dr. Lang ever since.”
After the successful surgery, which removed the tumor from the hypothalamus, a deep part of the brain often thought to be inoperable, Harrison spent years building back his physical strength and regaining motor skills that were impacted by the cancer and the treatment. Fortunately, because the tumor was completely removed, Harrison did not need any radiation or chemotherapy. The tumor has not come back after 20+ years.
“Some days I can deadlift 400 pounds but can barely pick up a pencil with my left hand,” says Harrison, who has limited motor function on the left side of his body, a lasting reminder of the brain surgery he underwent as a child. “I have had bad days, actually a lot of bad days, but focusing on the type of person I wanted to be in the future has always gotten me through.”
The future: cancer neuroscience
The nervous system intersects with, and is impacted by, cancer in many ways. This leads to profound and complex consequences for patients, whether pediatric or adult.
“Our focus is on unraveling the fundamental scientific principles driving the cancer-neuroscience interaction,” Lang said. “These advances will drive prevention, early detection and possibly even cures for neurological cancers; will lead to strategies to overcome the adverse effects of cancer treatments on the nervous system; and will address mental health needs in cancer patients, with the ultimate result of dramatically improving outcomes.”
The Cancer Neuroscience Program is a cross-disciplinary program led by Lang, and Vinay Puduvalli, M.D., chair of Neuro-oncology, and Jim Ray, Ph.D., director of the Neurodegeneration Consortium (NDC). Jian Hu, Ph.D., associate professor of Cancer Biology, is the scientific director, and Brittany Parker Kerrigan, Ph.D., is associate director of Research Planning and Development. Future endeavors will encompass brain tumor research, neuroscience and neuro-mental health, as well as the toxic side effects of cancer treatment.
“Our relationship with the Elias’ has grown over the years,” Lang said. “They are committed to the progression of treatments in the neuroscience space. It is incredible to see Harrison thriving more than 20 years later. There can and will be more ‘Harrisons’ thanks to their generosity and foresight.”
MD Anderson is known for its cancer care and research. But did you know that for more than a decade, MD Anderson researchers have been working on better treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases, too?
Launched in 2012 through a $25 million gift from Robert Belfer and the Belfer family, the Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium (BNDC) is a multi-institutional initiative between MD Anderson, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, Baylor College of Medicine and New York University, among others. The consortium was established to gain a deeper understanding of neurodegenerative diseases and translate those findings into effective therapeutic interventions.
Unparalleled drug discovery and development expertise
The Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium is a core part of MD Anderson’s Therapeutics Discovery division, which brings together scientists, clinicians and drug development experts to eliminate the bottlenecks stifling traditional drug discovery and advance effective new therapies in ways only possible here at MD Anderson.
In Fiscal Year 2023, MD Anderson had more NCI-funded projects than any other U.S. institution and the world’s largest cancer clinical trials program. MD Anderson also helped to evaluate nearly 60% of the new drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year.
“Very few places have this breadth and scope of drug discovery,” says Jim Ray, Ph.D., executive director of the Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium. “The Therapeutics Discovery division is essentially a mid-sized biotech company within an academic hospital.”
Alzheimer’s disease and age-related diseases could affect future cancer research and care
When the Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium was formed, Alzheimer’s was rapidly becoming a major health care crisis and was projected to account for 50% of the total U.S. health care economy by 2050. Today, nearly 7 million people are estimated to be living with Alzheimer’s disease, and 1 in 3 adults over age 65 will develop dementia. And, the risk for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases goes up drastically after age 85.
“In addition to the tremendous suffering it causes, Alzheimer's is also the most expensive disease in the United States. Patients need full-time family support or round-the-clock care in specialized centers,” Ray says. “As the population ages, we won't be able to support the number of people who need care.”
MD Anderson’s leadership and donors foresaw how this diversion of health care resources could affect future cancer patients. If limited health care resources were tied up with caring for patients with neurodegenerative diseases, that could affect future funding for cancer research and care.
Alzheimer’s disease and cancer have unexpected connections
Given the brain’s unique environment and the fact that cancer and Alzheimer’s disease share risk factors and have similar biological pathways of disease, many therapies the Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium studies for Alzheimer’s also may have potential for treating cancer.
“We are constantly discovering unexpected connections between Alzheimer’s and cancer,” Ray says. “By studying the fundamental causes of neurodegenerative diseases, we hope to develop therapies that promote nervous system health and function in cancer patients, too.”
For example, he points to the similarities between the memory-related side effects of chemotherapy, commonly referred to as chemobrain, and the dementia experienced by Alzheimer’s patients. The Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium observed cancer and Alzheimer’s patients’ brains both exhibited the activation of a protein called DLK, which senses injury to neurons and kills damaged brain cells, leading to cognitive impairment. Similarly, patients also share similar inflammatory responses in the brain’s immune cells called microglia, which differ from immune cells found in the rest of the body. Together, these biological responses contribute to the memory loss and nerve damage experienced by both cancer patients and Alzheimer’s patients.
That’s why the consortium is helping launch the NeuroHealth Initiative at MD Anderson to study the brain and the nervous system – beginning with ovarian cancer patients – to understand what happens when patients develop memory loss and neuropathy during chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
Ray says this provides a unique lens for studying the early stages and underlying mechanisms of neurodegeneration because, unlike with Alzheimer’s, researchers will be able to study cancer patients before their first treatment and thus, before the onset of their first symptoms.
Early breakthroughs show promise for next-generation Alzheimer’s therapies
Just as the last decade saw immunotherapy, targeted therapy and advanced diagnostics extend the lives of cancer patients, Ray believes now is also a critical time for treatment advances for Alzheimer’s.
“For the first time, we have agreement in the field that it is possible to slow the disease,” he says. “To do this, we need multiple ways to attack the disease, as well as a deep understanding of what's driving each patient's dementia, so that we can have personalized medicine for Alzheimer’s.”
Over the past decade, the Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium has pursued over 40 drug discovery projects, with five advancing to the next stage. From this research, they have established four keys to treating Alzheimer’s:
- Introduce neuroprotective agents to keep brain cells from dying
- Address genetic risk factors like APOE4 before patients show symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease
- Lessen the inflammatory response of microglia, the brain’s immune cells
- Combat the toxicity of tau proteins that cause amyloid plaque tangles in the brain
Encouraged by the Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium’s early success, the Belfer family recently made an additional $20 million gift to advance the consortium’s goals for the next 10 years: to develop five new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s and related diseases, and for two of those drugs to show meaningful evidence of changing the course of the disease. The Belfer family’s $20 million gift will be matched through MD Anderson’s institutional fundraising efforts, bringing a total of $40 million to the consortium’s work.
The Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium is currently running 12 projects targeting various aspects of Alzheimer’s, with one project already proceeding to a Phase I clinical trial. Efforts underway include the:
- Choline trial, which is testing whether a safe dietary intervention can reduce the risk of dementia in carriers of the APOE4 gene.
- DLK project, designed to develop a neuroprotective therapy for Alzheimer’s, which was awarded $20 million from the State of Texas to be developed also as a treatment for cancer patients who experience nerve damage due to chemotherapy.
- RIPK1 project, which aims to prevent microglial inflammation in the brain during neurodegeneration and could also prevent brain inflammation following radiation therapy.
- PU.1 project, which has identified PU.1 as a genetic risk factor not only for Alzheimer’s disease but also for leukemia.
- MS4A project, which targets the MS4A4A and MS4A6A genes for the prevention of dementia. These genes have also been shown to play a role in brain cancer.
The consortium hopes these projects will contribute to a multi-pronged approach for treating Alzheimer’s and neurodegenerative diseases at an earlier stage, ideally halting the disease’s progress before patients begin experiencing cognitive impairment.
“We are confident our goals are achievable,” Ray says. “The key elements for success are in place — a powerful research model, a winning collaborative team and a robust translational pipeline, all in the right place at the right time.”
Make a gift to support the Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium.
Contact Us
Contact person:
Stephanie Jenkins
Program Manager
Cancer Neuroscience Program
sjenkins@MDAnderson.org