Saying Goodbye to a Friend in Denver.

Denver's Lustgarten Foundation Research Walk Committee extends our deepest sympathies to the Sandoval Family on their recent loss.

To quote Ken Salazar ... "We have lost a friend, leader and visionary today."

Secretary Ken Salazar and Paul Sandoval crossing the finish line last fall at
Denver's 2011 Lustgarten Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk. 

Team Sandoval at the 2011 Denver's Lustgarten Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk. 

Longtime Denver political activist Paul Sandoval passes away from pancreatic cancer

Denver Post - by Lynn Bartels

Paul Sandoval, a wheeler-and-dealer who mapped out the careers of numerous politicians in an office at his tamale shop, has lost the biggest campaign of his life.

Known as the godfather of Colorado politics, the former Democratic state senator advised everyone from governors to U.S. senators on issues big and small, from bilingual education to pollster strategy.

Last year in February doctors diagnosed Sandoval with pancreatic cancer, and told him he likely had six months left to live.

His wife, Paula, said he died about about 2:30 this afternoon. He was 67.

"He died very peacefully," she said.

In recent weeks, he had been on a portable hospital bed in his living room. Among the visitors he received

PHOTOS: PAUL SANDOVAL

• Slideshow: More images from Paul Sandoval's life and times.

on Friday was Ken Salazar, U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Paula Sandoval said her husband understood Salazar but was unable to speak much with him because he was so weak.

"We have lost a friend, leader and visionary today," Salazar said in a statement.

"In his life, Paul Sandoval gave voice to fellow citizens who wanted better schools, safer communities and a chance to pursue the American dream. I will never forget his passion for public service, his heart, and the love he showed for his friends, neighbors and family. He is a role model and a hero."

It was at Sandoval's tamale shop, La Casita, in 1997 that the pair drew Salazar's future on a restaurant napkin: Salazar would run for state attorney general in 1998. He held that post until being elected U.S. senator in 2004.

Gov. John Hickenlooper said Sandoval was "beloved by many Coloradans."

"Many a great conversation took place and many tamales eaten in the backroom of Paul's restaurant," he said in a statement.

"While his family and friends were his passion, he loved a good political fight. He was a man with a deep reservoir of humility and compassion and an amazing sense of humor.

"Our hearts go out to his wife, Paula, and his entire family. Helen and I will miss him beyond measure."

Paul John Sandoval was born June 29, 1944, in Denver on a stretch of Mariposa Street that would become Interstate 25. He was the ninth of Jerry and Camilla Sandoval's 11 children. Two siblings died in childhood.

Before he could speak much English, Sandoval could say "Denver Post — 5 cents" and he hustled alongside his brothers to sell newspapers. His brother, Joe, a former educator with Denver Public Schools, recalled last year that they once had to track down a delinquent customer at a bar.

"Paul said, 'What about my interest?' The guy said, 'Here's your quarter interest.' I had never even heard that term 'interest' before," Joe said. "Paul's been a wheeler and dealer all his life."

The boys grew up surrounded by politics. Their dad and uncle founded the meatpackers union, and Sandoval learned at an early age it was about the person, not the party.

"Paul and my dad used to stay up all hours of the night waiting for election results," Joe said. "I couldn't handle it; I had to go to bed. But Paul became a political junkie."

By eighth grade, Sandoval was delivering groceries for the Gem Market in northeast Denver. A few blocks away, a tall kid named Wellington Webb had the same job at Goodrich Grocery.

In the 1970s they served together in the legislature and and in 1991 Sandoval helped Webb become Denver's first back mayor.

In addition to his wife Paula, a former state senator and Denver City Council member, Sandoval is survived by four daughters from his previous marriage: Kendra, Cris, Andrea, and Amanda; and a son, Brett Sterkel, from an earlier relationship.

Read more:Paul Sandoval, longtime Colorado Democratic activist, dead at age of 67 - The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20470407/paul-sandoval-longtime-colorado-democratic-activist-dead-67#ixzz1t0jwgsxI

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Purchase tickets now!

Purchase tickets now! Join Danny Aiello at the premiere of THE SHOEMAKER, a play by Susan Charlotte and directed by Anthony Marsellis, for a special night honoring The Lustgarten Foundation and the fight against pancreatic cancer on July 20th. 

For Tickets Call: 646-366-9340 http://www.lustgarten.org/Page.aspx?pid=602&cid=5&ceid=408&cerid=0&cdt=7%2F20%2F2011

Pancreatic cancer vaccine underway

UK Scientists are testing a new vaccine for treating pancreatic cancer in more than 1000 patients suffering from advanced forms of the disease.

TeloVac, which is now being tested in 53 UK hospitals, would not protect individuals against infectious diseases or cancer but would help the immune system to recognize and kill malignant cells in patients with pancreas tumor.

Researchers at TeloVac trial, who are using the new vaccine in combination with chemotherapy, hope the shot would boost the effects of the treatment by stimulating the immune system to fight the disease.

The vaccine, also named GV1001, contains small sections of telomerase -- a protein that is over-produced by cancer cells. The injection of the vaccine, therefore, presents the immune system with telomerase, helping T-cells to recognize and target the cancer cells more effectively.

Previous smaller studies have shown that patients who received the vaccine in addition to chemotherapy lived in average three months longer than those who had only undergone chemotherapy.

“"The problem is tumors are clever and are able to turn the immune cells into traitors which help to guard the tumor,” said Professor John Neoptolemos from Royal Liverpool University Hospital, who is helping to co-ordinate the trial. “The vaccine takes away the masking effect of the tumor.”

If TeloVac passes the current trial successfully, it would be available for treating advanced forms of pancreatic cancer by the end of 2013. However, more studies would be underway to assess its effectiveness in preventing pancreatic cancer and treating patients suffering from earlier stages of the disease.

Scientists hope the method could work on other types of cancers as well and therefore have planned a trial on patients with lung tumor for later this year.

“We strongly believe this has the potential to overcome the limits of other current cancer vaccines and become part of the standard of care not only for pancreatic cancer but for various other types of cancers,” said Jay Sangjae Kim, the founder of GemVax, the Korean company developing the TeloVac vaccine.

“In other words, a truly 'universal' vaccine will be available in the near future,” he added.

Researchers ID promising pancreatic cancer screening marker

Proteins found in blood serum distinguish cancer from non-cancerous conditions, U-M study shows

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a protein that shows distinct changes in structure between pancreatic cancer, non-cancerous diseases and normal blood serum. The protein also changes from early stage pancreatic cancer to advanced disease.

The finding suggests a blood test could serve as a potential screening tool to detect pancreatic cancer – which has the worst prognosis of any cancer type – at an earlier, more treatable stage.

"One of the difficulties in screening for pancreatic cancer is distinguishing it from other conditions, such as diabetes or pancreatitis. There is not a good marker currently that can do that. Ultimately, we need to detect earlier stages of pancreatic cancer that can be operated on and treated. Once the cancer reaches advanced stages, it becomes difficult to treat," said senior study author David M. Lubman, Ph.D., Maude T. Lane Professor of Surgical Immunology at the U-M Medical School, and a U-M professor of surgery, pathology and chemistry.

In this study, published online in the Journal of Proteome Research, Lubman and colleagues looked at proteins in the blood, and identified one, haptoglobin, that is in fairly high abundance. Haptoglobin is a type of glycoprotein, a category of proteins that has complex chains of sugar groups attached to it. These sugar groups are highly regulated in normal cells but develop a different structure in cancer cells.

The study looked at a total of 31 blood serum samples. The samples were from disease-free controls, patients with chronic pancreatitis, patients with diabetes and patients with varying stages of pancreatic cancer.
Because haptoglobin appears in abundance in serum, it is easy to pull out and isolate from the blood serum with an antibody. The researchers could then look at the structure of the sugar groups from the haptoglobin in the serum using a mass spectrometer, which is a device that separates and identifies molecules based on their molecular weight. They found it was easy to see the changes in the structure of the sugar groups from serum samples of pancreatic cancer versus non-cancerous disease, with distinct changes in structure or the amount of each structure present for each stage of pancreatic cancer versus pancreatitis, diabetes or normal samples.
Researchers are continuing to refine the assay, and are looking to develop a method that would allow them to evaluate hundreds of samples at once. Eventually, they hope this would lead to a test in which patients submit blood samples through their local doctors' offices, which are then sent to centralized laboratories for processing.
"Screening for pancreatic cancer would not be done through the general population because it's a fairly rare cancer. Rather, a test like this could potentially be used to screen people who are in high risk groups – those with a family history of pancreatic cancer, people who are obese or smoke, and people who have long-term diabetes or pancreatitis," Lubman says.
Researchers believe that a similar test could be used for colon and liver cancer, although more work is needed to identify the best markers in those diseases.
The researchers will continue to refine the markers to allow them to better and more reliably distinguish early stage pancreatic cancer. They will also begin testing this approach in larger samples. This test is not available to patients at this time.
Pancreatic cancer statistics: 43,140 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year and 36,800 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society

###

Additional authors: Zhenxin Lin, Diane M. Simeone, Michelle A. Anderson, Xiaolei Xie, Kerby A. Shedden and Mack T. Ruffin, all from U-M; and Randall E. Brand from University of Pittsburgh
Funding: National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, U-M Gastrointestinal Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant
Disclosure: None
Reference: Journal of Proteome Research, doi: 10.1021/pr200102h
Resources:
U-M Cancer AnswerLine, 800-865-1125
U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, www.mcancer.org
Clinical trials at U-M, www.UMClinicalStudies.org

Pancreatic Cancer Survival Improves By Over 60% With Combination Of Four Drugs

Patients with pancreatic cancer who take a combination of four chemotherapy medications were found to have 60% better average survival, French scientists reported in NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine). Despite having to endure several side effects, the scientists informed that the quality of life of the survivors was not badly affected.

Pancreatic cancer has an extremely high death rate. For this reason, patients are more likely to willingly endure chemotherapy side effects in order to live a few months longer.

Of the approximately 43,000 people who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the USA annually, 36,800 of them die from it. Pancreatic cancer represents only 2.5% of all cancer cases in America, but is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the country. Fewer than 6% of patients survive for longer than five years after diagnosis.

Dr. Thierry Conroy of Nancy University and Centre Alexis Vautrin, Nancy, France, performed a Phase III trial - known as PRODIGE 4/ACCORD 11 - on 342 patients with pancreatic cancer. Half of them were randomly selected to receive FOLFIRINOX (made up of four drugs: oxaliplatin, irinotecan, leucovorin and fluorouracil), while the other half received Gemzar (gemcitabine), the first line drug used for pancreatic cancer therapy. They were all under seventy-six years of age and received their medications for six months.

The median survival time was:

• 6.8 months in the gemcitabine group. After six months 66% reported a significant decline in their quality of life.
• 11.1 months in the FOLFIRINOX group. After six months 31% reported a considerable decline in their quality of life.

Those in the FOLFIRINOX group experienced significantly more side effects, including diarrhea, weight loss, numbness in hands and feet, and pain. However, the patients felt the side effects were worth it and did not severely undermine their quality of life.

The researchers said that FOLFIRINOX therapy should only be used for patients aged less than 75 years, due to its high toxicity.

They wrote:

(FOLFIRINOX is now a first line option for metastatic pancreatic patients) who are younger than 76 years, and who have a good performance status ([Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score (ECOG)] 0 or 1), no cardiac ischemia and normal or nearly normal bilirubin levels."

This study was financed by pharmaceutical company Amgen, the French government, and the French National League Against Cancer.

"FOLFIRINOX versus Gemcitabine for Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer"
Thierry Conroy, M.D., Françoise Desseigne, M.D., Marc Ychou, M.D., Ph.D., Olivier Bouché, M.D., Ph.D., Rosine Guimbaud, M.D., Ph.D., Yves Bécouarn, M.D., Antoine Adenis, M.D., Ph.D., Jean-Luc Raoul, M.D., Ph.D., Sophie Gourgou-Bourgade, M.Sc., Christelle de la Fouchardière, M.D., Jaafar Bennouna, M.D., Ph.D., Jean-Baptiste Bachet, M.D., Faiza Khemissa-Akouz, M.D., Denis Péré-Vergé, M.D., Catherine Delbaldo, M.D., Eric Assenat, M.D., Ph.D., Bruno Chauffert, M.D., Ph.D., Pierre Michel, M.D., Ph.D., Christine Montoto-Grillot, M.Chem., and Michel Ducreux, M.D., Ph.D.
N Engl J Med 2011; 364:1817-1825May 12, 2011

Written by Christian Nordqvist

View drug information on Gemzar.

Copyright: Medical News Today
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/225130.php

"Beating the Odds" Night Out

When:  Friday, April 27, 2012 | 7 -11 pm
Where:  Knights of Columbus
17 Willow St.,Westborough, MA


Tickets: $50 per person | Includes: $30,000 of "funny money" chips, 1 raffle ticket, buffet style hors d'oeuvres.  Purchase Tickets Now.

Join us for a fun filled evening of: Vegas Games - Roulette, Black Jack, Craps, Poker, LCR
3 Hole Putting Green
Music, Dancing, Hors D'oeuvres
Bidding on Silent Auction, Prizes
Cash Bar

There will be a wall of Honor to recognize loved ones affected by pancreatic cancer. 

Please note: Tickets are only available online for purchase. Tickets will NOT be sold at the door.

Pancreatic cancer vaccine in N.J. clinical trial renews hope for patients

  Friday, 06 April 2012 18:00

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

More than 44,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year, and nearly three-quarters of them die within a year, according to statistics.
But a trial conducted at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick has given renewed hopes in stabilizing a patient’s immunity.
“It’s a promising lead," Elizabeth Poplin from the Cancer Institute of New Jersey told CBS New York. “We’re giving them a vaccine into the pancreas and into their arm in the hopes of boosting their immunity to the cancer.”

Six patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer were tested, and the disease was “clinically stable” in four of them after a year. Injecting the vaccine directly into the pancreatic tumor seems to reawaken the body’s immunity toward the disease, Poplin said, according to NorthJersey.com.

When the investigation, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, began two years ago, the vaccine was known as PANVAC, which contains genes that might stimulate that immune system.

“There has not been a significant breakthrough in the treatment of pancreatic cancer since an upgrade in chemotherapy in the mid 1990s,” Poplin said, according to a press release from CINJ.org. “When you talk about a disease that on average carries only a five-percent survival rate, the possibility of identifying better treatment and management options, especially by potentially utilizing the body’s own defenses, has become a challenge that my colleagues and I are committed to tackling.”

To be eligible for the clinical trial, patients had to have been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer that has not metastasized, and cannot have faced chemotherapy yet.

Lusgarten Walks -- You can make a difference

Help raise money for pancreatic cancer research ... join a Lustgarten Walk ...


Albany Pancreatic Cancer Reserach WalkAllentown Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Bridgewater Pancreatic Cancer Reserach WalkBrooklyn Pancreatic Cancer Reserach WalkCedar Rapids Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Clinton County Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Concord Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Dallas Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Delaware Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Denver Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Dutchess County Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Fairfield Pancreatic Cancer Reserach WalkFremont Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Green Valley Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Indianapolis Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Kansas Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Lakeland Pancreatic Cancer Reserach WalkLinn Creek Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Liverpool Pancreatic Cancer Reserach WalkMonmouth Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
New England Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
New York City Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Paramus Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Pennsauken Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
St. Louis Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Tempe Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Westchester Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk
Westborough Westchester Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk/Run

Westlake Westchester Pancreatic Cancer Reserach Walk/Run

Harvard Medical School Adviser: More options for treating pancreatic cancer

QUESTION: I am a 55-year-old man who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It is a neuroendocrine tumor. My doctor will be performing surgery in a couple of weeks and has discussed some new drugs that the Food and Drug Administration recently approved. Can you help me understand my diagnosis and the new drugs?

Answer: A cancer diagnosis can make a person feel very alone, but be assured you are not. About 44,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year -- accounting for about 3% of all cancer diagnoses.

Neuroendocrine tumors and the more common type of pancreatic cancer start from different types of cells. They have different symptoms and are treated differently. People can lead relatively normal lives for several years with a neuroendocrine tumor, even if the disease has spread outside the pancreas.

There are two new FDA-approved drugs for pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. They are sunitinib (Sutent) and everolimus (Afinitor). These new drugs disrupt molecular-level signaling within cancerous cells. They work in a much more targeted way than conventional chemotherapy. Cancer specialists see these two new drugs and drugs like them as the exciting new wave of cancer therapy.

Your doctor may have reviewed this information with you, but it may help to briefly describe the pancreas. It is a gland that's situated at the back of the abdomen, where it's close to and connected with many other structures in your body. The pancreas has two main functions: It produces digestive fluids and enzymes that are released into the small intestine, and it produces insulin and other hormones that are released into the bloodstream.

It is thought that the common type of pancreatic cancer comes from cells that produce digestive juices, while the neuroendocrine tumors arise from islet cells responsible for insulin and other hormones. This is the traditional view, but new evidence is suggesting that both types of cancer may originate from stem cells.
Your doctor has probably explained that your type of cancer can be removed surgically. Generally speaking, though, the operation is not performed if the cancer has spread beyond the pancreas itself. In that case, a surgical procedure does little to alter the course of the disease.

Up to 30% of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors result in excess release of insulin or other hormones. If too much insulin is pumped out, blood sugar levels can plummet. Extra gastrin, a hormone that stimulates the stomach, can lead to stomach ulcers. Surplus glucagon can make blood sugar levels go up.
Now medications called somatostatin analogs are used to control hormone release. They may also slow the growth of the tumors.

Conventional chemotherapy is used to treat pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer after it has spread. It extends lifespan, but it doesn't cure the cancer.

The two new drugs sunitinib (Sutent) and everolimus (Afinitor) are exciting alternatives to conventional chemotherapy. Sunitinib inhibits an enzyme critical to a complex chain of chemical events -- a "signaling pathway." By doing so, it inhibits the spread of cancer cells.

Everolimus inhibits a different enzyme, mTOR, and a different pathway. The basic concept of zeroing in on a molecular-level target specific to cancer cells is the same.

Research shows that sunitinib and everolimus can cut the growth of pancreatic neuroendocrine cancers in half. But these new medications do have side effects, including high blood pressure and low white blood cell counts.

The bottom line is that in this new era of targeted drugs, unusual cancers are becoming more treatable. A diagnosis of cancer is never welcome, but your diagnosis comes at a hopeful time.
Have a question? Send it to harvard_adviser@hms.harvard.edu

Happy Easter and Happy Passover from everyone on 

the Denver Lustgarten Walk Committee!  

Have a wonderful holiday weekend and

enjoy this fabulous Denver weather!

Healthy Vegan Options in Denver

Looking for vegan options to dine out in Denver?  This is a great resource ...

http://www.happycow.net/north_america/usa/colorado/denver/

5 Cancer-Fighting Foods You Should Be Eating

From Broccoli To Blueberries, Eat To Fight Breast Cancer

Kateri Wozny, Contributing writer

Women may think they are eating all the right foods to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but there are certain foods that can help lower the risk of the second-leading cause of cancer death among women: breast cancer.
Breast cancer causes more than 40,000 deaths per year and one in eight million women will experience breast cancer during their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society.

Maybe you've seen women wearing a pink ribbon pin to symbolize their fight breast cancer, know of someone who has the disease or even know of someone who died from it.

Research studies have found cancer-fighting benefits in certain types of food. No food will prevent women from getting breast cancer, but experts say if women eat well and stick to a low-fat, healthy diet, it could lower the risk significantly.

Before you head out to your next grocery store visit, here's a list of breast cancer fighting foods to add to your diet.

Read the full article at ...

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/health/29436266/detail.html

Integrative Cancer Care in Colorado

Introducing Colorado Integrative Cancer Care, metro Denver’s only cancer treatment center that takes care of the whole you – mind, body, spirit – because we have hope for all of our patients.

Our scientific approach to treatment and the healing process integrates standard cancer care with mind-body techniques, including supplements and nutritional counseling, acupuncture, massage therapy, diet and exercise programs, and stress reduction.

We believe that cancer affects not just your body, but also your mind and spirit – and we take of all of it.

It’s just part of our prescription for hope.

To schedule an appointment please use our contact form. To learn more about our workshops please see the latest here.

Our Practice

We write to share with you the exciting news that we are joining Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers (RMCC) effective July 1, 2011.

As you might know, Dr. Diab practiced medicine at RMCC for over 10 years before joining the Medical Center of Aurora Clinic Services in 2010.

As the two of us formally become affiliated with RMCC, you will benefit in many ways.

We believe that fully integrative care is important, and we will continue to offer the complementary therapy services you’ve come to expect. RMCC currently offers some of these services, and the integrative program will expand to offer nutritional counseling, massage therapy, and traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture.

RMCC knows how to provide cancer care and hematology services like no other provider in Colorado. Oncology and hematology are all they do, and they have the resources and expertise to do them well.

As a member of the US Oncology network, RMCC is able to participate in a robust clinical trials program, which ensures patients have access to the latest treatments in all major cancer types. In addition, their Aurora cancer center recently installed a Novalis Tx., the most advanced tool for delivering radiation therapy currently available in Colorado.

To learn more about Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers, please visit their website at www.RockyMountainCancerCenters.com. Dr. Diab and Dr. Nallapareddy will continue to practice at the following locations:

1400 S. Potomac St. Ste. 215 Aurora, CO 80012

14100 E. Arapahoe Rd. Ste. 120 Ste. 120 Centennial, CO 80112

Please contact the scheduling coordinators at 303-418-7600 so we can work with you on your transition of medical records and arrange your appointments. Please fax the medical release form to 303-750-3137 or bring it to your next visit and we can begin your medical record transfer.

We believe this will be a positive change for everyone involved. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Our Mission

The CICC staff will make every effort to:

• Treat our patients the way we like to be treated.
• Provide state of the art medical treatment.
• Be honest and caring at all times.
• Be an advocate for our patients.
• Keep an open mind about any issue.
• Provide emotional, spiritual, and social support.
• Advance cancer knowledge through scientific research.
• Address the unique individual needs of each patient.
• Keep family/significant others informed and involved.
• Value support and input of all health care staff and professionals.

http://drdiab.info/