LOS ANGELES, California, March 12, 2003 (ENS) - A Pacific Palisades man who lost his wife to lung cancer last year is underwriting part of a $1 million effort at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) to establish an environmental genomics progra

Some people exposed to second hand cigarette smoke develop lung cancer, while others do not, and scientists believe subtle variations in the human genetic blueprint may be responsible for the difference. Under a new program at the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center and the School of Public Health researchers will attempt to determine what predisposes some individuals, but not others, to develop cancer after contact with environmental pollutants. The $1 million program is being funded with a gift from Pacific Palisades resident Art Alper, who made the donation in memory of his late wife, Ann Fitzpatrick Alper. The Ann Fitzpatrick Alper Program in Environmental Genomics will be headed by Dr. Robert Schiestl, a professor of pathology, environmental health and radiation oncology. Art Alper's gift is being augmented with a gift from the Kenneth Jonsson Family Foundation. UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation is also augmenting the donation, bringing the gift to $1 million. "We'll investigate the molecular mechanism by which environmental agents such as air pollution, pesticides and radiation cause cancer and why a certain sub-population of people are more sensitive to these environmental exposures than the general population," Schiestl said. "With knowledge about the mechanism of this interaction between environmental exposure and genetic predisposition, it's our goal to develop improved biomarkers of exposure, to identify people at increased risk and to design nutritional and chemical interventions to counteract the development of cancer, especially in those with increased sensitivity." An environmental activist who drove a hybrid car, Ann Fitzpatrick Alper developed lung cancer although she had not smoked since she was a college student in the early 1950s. Smoking alone could have caused her cancer, or it may have been a combination of other environmental factors. About 95 percent of the nearly 2.5 million Americans who will be diagnosed with cancer this year have no known genetic predisposition to the disease. Researchers believe these people develop malignancies due to complex interactions between their genes and their environment. If scientists can uncover the chemical and biological cascade that results in cancer, they can potentially stop the disease before it occurs. The goal is to discover what specific combination of an individual's genetics and factors such as diet, air pollution, exposure to tobacco, or sensitivity to sunlight, result in disease.

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