SpECIAL puLL-OuT - National Cancer Centre Singapore

First NCCS
Charity
Concert Raises
$3.7 million
Special Pull-out
SALUBRIS
November / December 2011
Special Pull-out
SALUBRIS
November / December 2011
Many young cancer patients can look
forward to brighter days ahead, thanks to
“Rays of Hope”, a charity concert held
to raise funds for young cancer patients,
as well as spread awareness on cancer in
young people.
Indeed, it is a common misconception
that cancer afflicts mostly older people.
There remains a group of younger cancer
patients between the ages of 18 and
50 whose need for assistance is often
overlooked. Many of them have parents
and children to care for. Some have been
striving hard for a bright future ahead
with their loved ones but were deprived
by the sudden affliction of cancer.
The high costs of cancer treatment
discourage them from receiving
adequate treatment, as they need money
to support their families.
This was what prompted seven
volunteers to organise a charity concert
with the National Cancer Centre
Singapore (NCCS). Led by Ms Mary
Anne Tan and Ms Annie Chiam, the Rays
of Hope working committee was formed
to raise funds to provide financial
assistance and help young cancer
patients cope with cancer.
To get the project started, the committee
embarked on getting artistes to support
the cause by performing for the concert.
Success awaits at the
less travelled route
for Prof Michael
Stratton
P
rof Michael Stratton is a giant to many who follow
his work in the field of medical research. And for
the many researchers and clinicians who came to
his lecture at the NCCS, it was certainly a morning
well-spent to hear him first hand.
Prof Stratton, who is responsible for the discovery of
BRCA2 after many years of futile attempts, was here to
deliver the 12th Humphrey Oei Distinguished Lecture;
his thought-provoking topic was: “Evolution of the
Cancer Genome”.
The ‘Light of Hope’ performance by Dance Ensemble Singapore.
Prof Tan Ser Kiat, Group CEO of SingHealth, and
Prof Soo Khee Chee, Director of NCCS, also graced
the event. The attendees, comprising of doctors,
patients, cancer survivors and the public, mingled
with one another before the concert started. They
were all united for one reason – to bring hope to the
young cancer patients.
The concert opened on a high note with a brilliant
performance by the NAFA Orchestra and Chorus,
to set the mood of the evening. It was followed by
a dance item by the Dance Horizon Singapore.
Singapore artistes Dawn Yip, Rahimah Rahim,
Taufik Batisah, Hady Mirza, and Miguel Antonio,
together with overseas artistes Zhang Xue Zhong
from Malaysia, and Li You and Chris Wang from
China, wowed the audience. A surprise item was
a performance by Ms Mary Anne Tan who did a
solo Chinese opera song much to the delight of
the audience.
Said Ms Chiam, “Our aim is to help offer
cancer patients another avenue where
they can seek assistance to pay for their
medical expenses. What is important is
to see that they recover well so that they
can return to their jobs and continue to
support their families and loved ones,
and move on with their lives there after.”
Among the songs that the performers sang were
all-time favourites like “When You Believe”, “I
Dreamed a Dream”, “Change the World”, “Angel”,
“Wo Xiang Xin” and more. These inspirational
songs share a very important message – that
patients diagnosed with cancer should still have
hope for a better tomorrow.
And, came 18 Oct at the Esplanade
Theatre, the concert was a raving success
attended by close to 1400 people,
including Health Minister Mr Gan Kim
Yong who was the Guest-of-Honour.
Cultural Medallion Award Winner 2008, Iskandar
Ismail was the Artistic Director for the concert.
Dance Ensemble Singapore, ACSian Theatre and
Shawn & Gladys Dance World also offered their
expertise and star appeal.
Expressing his gratitude to the volunteers,
Dr Tan Hiang Khoon, Director of the
Division of Corporate Philanthropy, NCCS,
said, “We are touched by the gestures of
this group of volunteers. We are grateful
to Annie and Mary Anne, both of whom
have worked tirelessly to bring their idea
of a special fund to help needy patients to
fruition. It is important for cancer patients
to know that there is hope after cancer.
There are not only the doctors to take care
of them, but also people like this group of
supporters who are rooting for them. In fact,
many of our cancer survivors have gone on
to lead meaningful lives.”
In all, the “Rays of Hope” concert
raised a total of S$3.7 million from
ticket sales and outright donations.
All proceeds will go towards the
Community Cancer Fund, which
supports financial assistance for
needy patients, education and
training of medical, nursing and
paramedical professionals for better
patient care and cancer prevention,
as well as improvements in
infrastructure, equipment, facilities,
processes and patient touch
points for enhancement of patient
experience and care.
By Charissa Eng
He shared that all cancers carry somatically
acquired changes in their genomes. Some, termed
“driver” mutations, are causally implicated in the
development of the disease. The remainder are
“passengers”, and bear the imprints of mutational
processes that are operative during cancer
development. The one-hour lecture elicited many
questions from the full-house auditorium.
After the lecture, he also had many private
meetings with scientists and clinicians to share
more on his work.
Prof Stratton began his research career after
obtaining training as a histopathologist. He went
on to do research for his PhD on molecular
biology of cancer and started a faculty group
at the Institute of Cancer Research (London) to
research on cancer susceptibility. At that time,
the first high-risk breast cancer gene BRCA1 had
just been localised to chromosome 17 and there
was a lot of buzz among the world’s scientific
community to try and identify the gene. This
became a reality in 1994.
Instead of jumping on the bandwagon, Prof Stratton decided to take the road less
travelled by embarking on studies to find out if there were other genes responsible
for causing breast cancer. Recounting on why he took that step, he said that he did
not see much point in competing.
At that time, there were many women who were having breast cancers that did not
seemed to evolve from BRCA1. Although he was not entirely sure, he nonetheless
took the step and made a less scientifically-challenging hypothesis.
The study took a greater toll than he had expected. “The subjects
available were not the sort that was the most effective. We needed
large families with lots of cases of breast and ovarian cancers.
And working in the south-east of England, where families were
relatively small and most had lost contact with one another, it was
difficult,” he shared during the interview.
In order to extend his respondents to capture the global context in the spread of
the disease, he approached oncologists in Ireland, the country whose citizens were
mainly Catholics who have large families, for opportunities to study large families.
He was spot on when one oncologist wrote back with news of a family with five
sisters being afflicted with breast cancer and who were all under 50 years of age.
Continued overleaf.
Special Pull-out
SALUBRIS
November / December 2011
Success awaits at
the less travelled
route for Prof
Michael Stratton
Special Pull-out
SALUBRIS
November / December 2011
Continued from overleaf.
The Wall of Hope coffee table books.
He took their blood samples. His
hypothesis was right - the gene that caused
the cancer among them was not BRCA1.
For two years, he studied the family in
greater detail, doing linkage analysis on
their ancestors and descendants. The results
showed that 15 members of the 100-strong
family bore the gene and had breast cancer.
However, it was not linked to BRCA1.
A project of
love, hope for
cancer patients
The entire team went through the whole
genome sequence to identify which would
match the gene they found. The result was
negative. Not satisfied, he asked the team
to start the sequencing all over again. It
was in this second attempt that proof came
to light that the gene could be localised to
chromosome 13.
The meticulous professor who speaks with
a measured tone later found another five
mutations of the gene. Although the data
had been released by a pharmaceutical
company, he felt that the discovery was
still important. As a result of his discovery,
a common clinical genetic screening
programme was adopted worldwide. Many
options were presented to women afflicted
by breast cancer.
Said Prof Stratton, “Women can go for
prophylactic mastectomy if they were tested
positive before the cancer occurs, while
others preferred to be screened in detail.
Whichever they chose, it was an effective
way to prevent breast cancer.”
He further shared how the discovery was
used effectively. “A woman was about to
have a mastectomy because her mother
and sister had the BRCA1 gene and thought
that she would too. Two weeks after the
news went out, she went for a test and it
showed that she did not carry the gene. It
certainly saved her the anxiety and she was
able to carry on with her life. It was a good
outcome and provided substantial impact
to the community.”
The launch event was held amid some joy and mixed feelings. The first two pages of the book were
images of tiles created by Ms Helen Hee and Mr Joey Kong, who were passionate and dedicated
cancer support group leaders. They were in remission for some years before they sadly passed on.
Prof Michael Stratton giving a lecture on the topic “Evolution of the Cancer Genome”.
Further tests revealed that there were other breast cancer susceptibility genes apart from
BRCA1 and BRCA2. CHEK2, a truncating variant which increased breast cancer risk by
two-fold, was subsequently discovered. Prof Stratton later discovered other lowsusceptibility genes such as ATM, BRIP1 and PALB2(13).
When asked about his thoughts on the discovery he made, Prof Stratton, who had received
five prestigious awards for his work, said that it was a chance he took that turned out well.
Following that, he embarked on studies for the third gene but had not found any. “Perhaps
some low risk genes would surface.”
His work, which had extended to more than a decade, has given a clearer perspective on
how breast cancer evolves. Owing to the research literature, pharmaceutical companies
have been able to develop new drugs that can prevent DNA repair in abnormal genes.
Apart from research in breast cancer, Prof Stratton has also embarked on research on mental
retardation, a condition which affects approximately three percent of live births. He uses the
same technology that he used in cancer research. Applying the high throughput PCR-based
exon sequencing strategies developed for analyses of cancer, he is coding more than 200
families with evidence of X-linked mental retardation. The study identified 13 new XLMR
genes and has remained the largest published sequencing screen for rare germline mutations
in human disease.
Like his forays into research, he will be visiting exotic destinations in Asia like Cambodia’s
Angkor Wat and India’s Taj Mahal, places that had been touted as interesting.
By Veronica Lee
The “Wall of Hope” was a novel centre-wide
project to get everyone, from students, patients
and well-wishers to build a wall of engraved clay
tiles as a visual inspiration to unite everyone in
the quest to prevail over cancer.
The project started in 2008 and came to fruition
in 2009 when the “Wall of Hope” was launched
in May that year outside the National Cancer
Centre Singapore (NCCS). The making of the clay
tiles was a joint effort between NCCS and Bukit
Panjang Government High School (BPGHS). It
brought together the school’s student and teacher
volunteers with NCCS staff and others, including
cancer patients and cancer survivors, caregivers
and families.
NCCS Director, Prof Soo Khee Chee, said,
“I am pleased that many individuals came forward
and painstakingly took time to etch a phrase or
a simple but meaningful design to express their
inner thoughts on how they confront cancer.”
Two years on, it was decided that to capture the
best of the artistic works, it should be presented
through a coffee table book launched on 30 Sept
2011 to spread the message even further.
On Helen’s tile was etched the question: What is the definition of “Hope”? She thought it was
important to let others know what Hope really means. Her last work titled “Victor” reflected
her strong determination which she kept to her last.
The next was Joey’s tile, titled “Open Up!”, as he felt that we should not box up our lives.
He was always the smiling and optimistic leader, never showing fear or pain. The bespectacled
husband and father found time to spend, reaching out to other patients, sharing experiences
and lending support. He lived to fulfil his wish to celebrate his 50th birthday.
So what does Hope mean to us today?
Aptly, Prof Hui Kam Man, Director, Cellular and Molecular Research at NCCS, said,
“Hope is one of my best friends in life.”
Reflecting on the expression of thoughts in the clay tiles, Prof Kon Oi Lian, Director, Division
of Medical Sciences at NCCS, said the diagnosis of cancer is life-changing for patients.
“For many, it leads to a re-examination of life’s enduring values and true priorities. Hence, the
overwhelming expressions on the Wall of Hope are those of encouragement, love and support.”
And, for Prof London Lucien Ooi, Adviser at NCCS, he has this to share. “My sincere wish is
that this book will bring to its readers the intended hope for a better tomorrow as we all search
for a way to control and manage cancer.”
The book launch was witnessed by many patients, caregivers and staff. Today, the Wall of Hope
stands as a beautiful and sturdy expression of our love and hope to all cancer patients. A copy
of the book is available at NCCS Concierge, level 1, while stock lasts.
By Pauline Lim Siew Luan
Department of Surgical Oncology
NCCS