Stand Up To Cancer

How can you stand up to cancer and help fund critical research for all of us?  This Friday, September 7th at 8-9pm EST, Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) will hold it’s third, live, television fundraiser to find new ways to develop cancer breakthroughs. Several cable channels will donate one hour of simultaneous, commercial-free television, there is a phone bank and great line-up for a concert. 

Started in 2008 by a group of women, SU2C hopes to accelerate collaborative and innovative research by bringing together the best and the brightest cancer scientists. Some areas of focus for SU2C are:
• More effective, less toxic therapies for three major breast cancer subtypes
• Identifying predictive biomarkers & effective drug combinations to treat breast, ovarian and         
   endometrial cancer
• Precision therapy for advanced prostate cancer
• Personalized target/therapy identification in patients with BRAFwt metastatic melanoma
• Cutting off the fuel supply to pancreatic cancer

They are concentrating on self-renewing cancer cells, commonly known as cancer stem cells. These cells often escape, evade and become resistant to cancer treatment. Researchers believe that by developing therapies that can target and strike cancer stem cells, they may “silence” key genes that permit cancer to exist and flourish.

SU2C is working on a Circulating Tumor Cell Chip (CTC-Chip). Cancers typically develop in an organ but spread, or metastasize, through the bloodstream. These circulating tumor cells that spread from the primary tumor are extraordinarily rare. By developing a CTC-Chip the size of a business card and containing 78,000 microscopic columns, each coated with a special material, researchers hope they can “catch” a circulating tumor cell, while allowing normal blood cells to flow through unimpeded. By using something like the CTC-Chip, the Dream Team hopes to be able to detect primary and metastatic cancers earlier and less invasively, as well as determine whether a tumor is responding to treatment.

Unlike some other cancer research funds, with Stand Up to Cancer, all funds go straight to research.  You can track funds online through their research to see how funds are used, love the accountability and responsibility they take.