Home > Prevention & Risk Assessment > Genetics > Prostate Cancer Genetics Project > August 06 Newsletter

Hats off to you!

The Prostate Cancer Genetics Project wishes to extend a warm thank-you to all of our nearly 3,100 participants for all your efforts! In addition to complying with our initial request for a blood sample, family history/health information, and speaking to additional family members, many of you have continued to provide valuable assistance by completing and returning our follow-up questionnaires and keeping us informed about changes in family health or contact information. Did you know that only 4% of the approximately 1.4 million people diagnosed with cancer in 2005 participated in medical research? You can feel proud of the role you are playing in advancing medical and scientific knowledge that will benefit millions of people.

Since 1995, the University of Michigan Prostate Cancer Genetics Project (PCGP) has been hard at work searching for the genetic basis of hereditary prostate cancer. Our research findings have contributed to 28 peer-reviewed journal publications and two book chapters. We have worked closely with investigators at some of the top research institutions in the United States and abroad, including the National Human Genome Research Institute, University of Washington's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, the Broad Institute at Harvard/MIT/Whitehead, University of Umea in Sweden, and University of Tampere in Finland among others.

Major funding for our research has come through grants awarded by the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, the National Cancer Institute, and the Department of Defense. Although grant monies provide the basic support for our research, they do not stretch far enough to cover all of our costs. To continue our high level of productivity, we need your continued support. Here are some ways you can support our research effort:

• Make a direct donation either through our web site or by calling (800) 723-9170.
• Approach your company/corporation about making a monetary or in-kind gift (e.g., laboratory freezer or printing services) to our project.
• Ask family members (who may also possibly be PCGP participants) to make a family donation to PCGP (we can assist by generating pledge/donation forms that you can include in holiday mailings or other special occasions).
• Organize a fund-raising event or suggest PCGP as the beneficiary of a church or community fund-raising event.

We are very grateful for all the contributions you have already made to our research effort. Donations of any size will further our progress in finding the genetic basis of prostate cancer which is the most common cancer diagnosed in men and the third leading cause of death behind lung and colon cancer. (Jemal A, et al. Cancer statistics, 2006. CA Cancer J Clin, 56(2):106-130, 2006).

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Welcome is published by the Prostate Cancer Genetics Project

7310 CCGC, 1500 East Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0946
Phone: 734-936-2031 or 800-723-9170
Fax: 734-647-4338

Articles by:
Caroline Mohai, Alicia M. Mastronardi, Bronwen A. Halstead-Nussloch, Kimberly A. Zuhlke, Jennifer Beebe-Dimmer, MPH, PhD, Kathleen A. Cooney, MD

Special thanks to: Lisa Robbins

Editor: Caroline E. Mohai

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University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
1500 East Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

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