On Mar. 5, 2010, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced that it had awarded the Siteman Cancer Center and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis a prestigious Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in endometrial cancer.

Endometrial cancer, which forms in the tissue lining the uterus, is the most common gynecologic cancer. Last year, about 42,000 women were diagnosed with the disease and almost 8,000 women with endometrial cancer died. The majority of women diagnosed with endometrial cancer are 45 years or older. The prognosis of surviving endometrial cancer is good when the disease is detected and treated early. However, if th e cancer has spread from the uterus, the chances to treat it successfully are small.

The goal of SPORE grants is to implement a strong collaboration between basic scientists and clinicians. The three-year, $1.7 million SPORE grant in endometrial cancer brings together School of Medicine experts in genomics, diagnostics and developmental therapeutics to tackle research projects that can be translated quickly into improved detection and treatment of this type of cancer. This research involves both cancer patients and populations at risk for cancer.

The SPORE grant involves four projects that focus on new approaches to identifying and treating endometrial and related cancers. The NCI expects that each research project has the potential to be a clinical trial or a clinical test within five years.

The goal of one project is to see if a molecularly targeted therapy will improve the treatment of patients with persistent or recurrent endometrial cancer. Another project is developing prognostic markers to help guide the treatment of women with the most common form of uterine tumors. A third project seeks to detect more women with inherited forms of endometrial cancer so they and their families can receive intensified cancer screenings. The final project will look for unique features of endometrial cancer that could be potential drug targets.