New fund brings uterine cancer into the limelight
Largest private donation ever
Benedict Vanclooster
Uterine cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women in Belgium. Despite this fact, ‘only’ 1,350 cases a year have not managed to convince large pharmaceutical companies to invest in research into this 'forgotten' cancer. Donor Luc Verelst is remedying this situation by establishing a fund and a research chair.
Thirty years ago, Luc Verelst, a bio-engineer, founded his own construction company, which grew into a very successful venture. Currently, the company’s turnover is approximately 130 million euros in Belgium. In 1999, Verelst sold his shares, distanced himself from the daily management of the company and moved to Switzerland. “Success and status are transitory and increasingly, I am able to put them into perspective”, Verelst tells us. “Health, happiness with your family and being able to live as you are, those are the greatest treasures.”
In the past months, Verelst has subscribed to this philosophy more than ever. His main priority at the moment is his sister, who has been diagnosed with uterine cancer. “The diagnosis was like a bolt from the blue. After all, the word ‘cancer’ in a diagnosis is equated with a death sentence by most people. But this need not necessarily be the case.”
Lately, Verelst has steeped himself in scientific literature about uterine cancer and has engaged in discussions with doctors and specialists from the medical sector. His conclusion is very clear: “Nowhere did I find an unequivocal answer to the question of what the best method of treatment is. There is a pressing need for further research and it is high time to bring expertise from across the globe together.”
It is not in his nature to waste time and so Verelst has founded and personally financed the Verelst Uterine Cancer Fund Leuven, which operates with a starting capital of 1,250,000 euros – the largest private donation the K.U.Leuven has ever received. Part of the money will be used to establish a chair for research into new treatments of uterine cancer. Professors Frederic Amant and Ignace Vergote, who treat Verelst’s sister, have been appointed to the chair.
“The research of the fund and chair is focused on uterine cancer”, Professor Vergote tells us. “This type of cancer occurs more frequently than cervical cancer, against which more effective preventive measures can be taken. Despite this fact, uterine cancer has received almost no attention from pharmaceutical companies. Their reasoning is based on market shares and potential return. Breast cancer is the third most frequent cancer among women and prostate cancer is the third most frequent among men. Based on these figures, the pharmaceutical industry’s calculations are quickly made. It is very frustrating that very often we have to combat certain types of cancer using old methods, even when those cancers are just as deadly and sometimes deadlier than other types of cancer that receive a lot more attention.”
The first stage of research will focus on one particular molecule: anti-PlGF or Placental Growth Factor, an antibody developed by Professor Peter Carmeliet’s research team in cooperation with ThromboGenics, a Flemish bio-technology company. It has been discovered that anti-PlGF inhibits the growth of a number of tumours without damaging the healthy cells. The substance is still being tested, however. ThromboGenics tests this molecule on the most common types of tumours.
“The power of the economy threatened to exclude uterine cancer and other types of gynaecological tumours from the planned experiments”, Professor Amant tells us. “Luckily, thanks to Mister Verelst’s donation, we can subvert this power. It is our intention to participate in the experiments and to carry out the tests with anti-PlGF on uterine tumours as well.”
The research that has been made possible by the Verelst Uterine Cancer Fund Leuven will take place in the context of the revolutionary development that is currently taking place in oncological therapy. “Molecular-oriented therapies are becoming increasingly prevalent”, Vergote explains. “On the other hand, research into new chemotherapies is becoming increasingly uncommon. Classical chemotherapy kills all the cells that separate quickly. You could compare it to an atomic bomb. Molecular-oriented therapies only destroy the cancer cells that display certain molecular characteristics, which normal cells do not display, or only display to a much lesser extent.”
It is Luc Verelst’s dream, a dream he shares with the scientists involved, to develop improved methods of treatment for uterine cancer by means of the fund and the research chair. “We hope to be able to use the new molecules to cure more people and/or to ensure they live longer. We have not reached our goal yet, but we are moving in the same direction as the treatment of HIV. In some cases of advanced cancer we are increasingly managing to extend the lives of patients and to make cancer more of a chronic disease. The development of new products with as few side effects as possible is particularly crucial in this regard”, Professor Amant concludes.
For more information: Send an e-mail to Isabel.Penne@rec.kuleuven.be
