Lymphovenous Canada: The Lymphatic Research Foundation's 2nd International Biomedical Research Conference on Lymphatic Research

Spirits were high at the U.S. Lymphatic Research Foundation's 2nd conference at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland on May 3 and 4, 2002. Two of Canada's scientists - Professor Miles Johnston from the University of Toronto and Professor Pierre-Yves von der Weid from the University of Calgary - joined other scientists from around the world to share state of the art research perspectives and to discuss current and anticipated developments in lymphatic research.

The Canadian contingent! Professor Pierre-Yves von der Weid and Professor Miles Johnston stand in front of a shuttle bus taking them to the U.S. Lymphatic Research Foundation's scientific conference in Washington D.C. (articles by Professor von der Weid, Johnston and Professor Jack Hay - who did not attend this conference - describing Canadian research and developments in this area can be found on the Health Watch page)

Professor Johnston is investigating the drainage of lymphatic fluid around the brain cavity. Professor von der Weid is examining the relationship between inflammation and the pumping process of lymphatic vessels.

The Lymphatic Continuum was designed by the Lymphatic Research Foundation to address the relative research vacuum that has, until recently, existed in the field for lymphatic biology and therapeutics. It was conceived as a cross-disciplinary event, with participants drawn from the fields of lymphatic biology and angiogenesis, biochemistry, tissue engineering, endocrinology, infectious disease, cancer biology and cardiovascular medicine.

Founder Wendy Chaite (far left) along with LRF president Jeffrey Barash and his wife (centre) and volunteer (far right) preparing registration material on the first day of the conference.

Last year the Foundation convinced the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide grants to stimulate research on the biology of the lymphatic system. NIH co-sponsored the two day conference which included an open session for interested health professionals and a closed "think tank" meeting of invited participants who were encouraged to submit abstracts of new research findings in a poster session.

The conference focused on three major areas:

• New tools for lymphatic investigation - which included peptide markers for tumor lymphatics and approaches for tissue engineering
• Biological principles - which discussed research perspectives on inherited lymphatic disease, a potential connection between pulmonary artery stenosis and lymphedema
• Vascular development - the impacts of various genes associated with lymphedema on generating or restricting the growth of lymphatic vessels and tissue through virus-mediated gene transfer. And the debate: how to establish the delicate balance of generating new lymphatic tissue without triggering the growth of cancer at the same time.One participant noted, however, that no drug currently exists to control over-growth of lymphatic vessels which is a major concern in certain medical conditions.

Lymphangiogenesis (the regulation of lymphatic growth and the development mechanism), antiangiogensis (the process of limiting or discouraging this growth) and genetic research dominated discussion at conference. Many presentations were built on current genetic research being carried out in the following areas:

• between the University of Arizona and University of Michigan on the FOXC2 gene (published in the June 2000 issue of Nature Genetics);

• at the St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee on the gene Prox1 (published in the Sept. 17, 1999 issue of Cell);

• a research study currently being undertaken by Dr. Kari Alitalo of the University of Helsinki and Dr. Robert Ferrell at the University of Pittsburgh on the gene VEGFR3. The full text of this study can be reviewed at www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.221449198

"Whether one develops lymphedema secondary to cancer or trauma, or one was born with a severely impaired system that leads to primary lymphedema, there is increasing evidence that the same set of genes is involved in lymphedema," says Dr. Robert Ferrell, a member of the Foundation's scientific advisory board.

Dr. Stanley Rockson, chair of the LRF's scientific medical advisory board, introduces speakers at the session. Other members of the scientific medical advisory board include Dr. Kari K. Alitalo, Helsinki; Dr. Robert E. Ferrell, Pittsburgh; Dr. D. Neil Granger, Shreveport, Louisiana; Dr. Gerald L. Wolf, Harvard and Tufts; Dr. David C. Zawieja, Texas A&M.

There was great interest in the presentation by Pirjo Laakkonen of the Burman Institute in La Jolla, California, on her lab's discovery of new peptides that home to breast cancer or leukemia cells in mice. One of the new peptides (F3) recognizes the blood vessels' tumors and another (LyP-1) recognizes lymphatic vessels in tumors. Both peptides also bind to tumor cells. These peptides show little or no binding to normal tissues. Targeting drugs to lymphatic vessels and cells in tumors with these peptides may be effective in preventing tumor metastasis and will form the basis of future research by her lab.

The Lymphatic Research Foundation's new scientific journal: Lymphatic Research and Biology

The other highlight of the conference was the launch of a new scientific journal entitled Lymphatic Research and Biology by the Lymphatic Research Foundation, slated to come out this fall. This peer-reviewed journal will be published quarterly and will feature fundamental scientific research of relevance to the lymphatic system. Editor-in-Chief is Stanley Rockson, M.D. of the Stanford University School of Medicine. Professor Miles Johnston is on the editorial board of this publication along with representatives of major research institutions throughout the U.S., Europe and Australia. For more information on this new journal visit: www.liebertpub.com/lrb

The proceedings of the conference will be distributed electronically and in hard copy by the New York Academy of Sciences as a volume of the Annals of New York Academy of Sciences.

For more information on the Lymphatic Research Foundation visit: www.lymphaticresearch.org