For the first time ever, the National Cancer Institute has awarded a special grant to study lymphoma. The research is part of a program called SPORE – or specialized programs of research excellence. NCI will provide more than $2 million a year for five years to researchers at the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa. It’s the first time the Holden Cancer Center has received a SPORE grant. The NCI established the SPORE program in 1992.

"The focus of our SPORE program is on lymphoma and the immune system, and how we can develop immunotherapies to try and treat lymphoma, with the goal of having treatments that are more effective and have fewer side effects than our current treatments," says George Weiner, M.D., director of the Holden Cancer Center.

Lymphoma is a cancer that attacks the immune system and is classified as Hodgkin’s or non-Hodgkin’s disease. University of Iowa researchers will lead a team of specialists from the Holden Cancer Center and Mayo Clinic. The NCI grant will fund five specific projects at both sites.

"I do believe this places us among the elite cancer centers as far as our ability to take advances from the laboratory and apply them to patients. Although this SPORE is in the area of lymphoma, clearly the advances that are made with this SPORE will be able to be applied to other types of cancers, such as breast cancer, for example," says Weiner.

Researchers believe this new support from NCI will help develop a better understanding of lymphoma, and lead to improved cancer treatments in the future.

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