Farrah Fawcett Brings Awareness To HPV In Death With Research Grant

Even in death Farrah Fawcett is still changing lives. Following the end of her three-year battle with anal cancer, the Farrah Fawcett Foundation has just announced that it plans to start an HPV research team.

The Farrah Fawcett Foundation announced that it plans to team up with Stand Up To Cancer and the American Association for Cancer Research to create a team that will be dedicated to researching HPV and HPV-related cancers. The project is said to be called “Therapeutic CD8 vaccines against conserved E7 HPV epitopes identified by MS.”

So far The Farrah Fawcett Foundation already has a pretty good start. The teams have raised $1.2 million in a grant for the project. Said grant will be made to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in order to start a clinical trial for a cancer-fighting antigen.

The operating chief officer of Immuovaccine, Ph.D Marc Mansour said of the exciting news:

“We are excited to work with the talented team at Dana-Farber and add value to their clinical program with our DepoVax technology. Our previous work with DPX-Survivac gives us confidence that DepoVax has the potential to induce strong immunological responses to their novel antigen to enable the vaccine in the clinic.”

Farrah Fawcett was diagnosed in 2006 with anal cancer. After going into remission following rounds of chemotherapy and surgery, her cancer returned in an aggressive state. In 2007 Farrah brought a digital video camera to her doctor’s visit where she was told they had found a malignant polyp. Throughout her battle with cancer the star traveled to and from the United States to Germany for aggressive and experimental treatments. This was all documented with personal diary-like videos and later aired in a posthumous special called Farrah’s Story. The special earned the actress her fourth Emmy nomination as she was a producer of the documentary.

Of the HPV research, president of the Farrah Fawcett Foundation, Alana Stewart said of the upcoming trial:

“Farrah was committed to the struggle against anal cancer and other forms of cancer. We are very pleased to continue Farrah’s legacy by supporting this important scientific initiative.”

The awareness brought to HPV is extremely important, given the rise of diagnoses. Sherry Lansing, Stand Up To Cancer’s co-founder and chairperson of the Entertainment Industry Foundation Board of Directors said of the research:

“It’s estimated that more than 30,000 HPV-associated cancers occur each year in the United States alone. Research into new therapies that will benefit patients is urgently needed.”

The project is expected to start in July of 2014.

[Image via Bing]