M. D. Anderson Receives Historic $10 Million Gift

 

Kathleen C. and the late Floyd A. Cailloux made possible an unprecedented research gift of $10 million to M. D. Anderson's human cancer genetics program.

 

 

The Kathleen C. Cailloux Family Foundation and the family of Floyd A. Cailloux has given a $10 million gift to M. D. Anderson for human cancer genetics research.

 

The gift is the largest one given to M. D. Anderson for a research endowment and also is the fourth largest gift in the history of the institution.

 

The donation will create The Floyd & Kathleen Cailloux Research Center in Human Cancer Genetics, honoring philanthropists and long-time civic activists Kathleen and the late Floyd Cailloux. The Cailloux family was recently named by Texas Monthly among the state's most generous Texans.

 

"We are grateful to the Cailloux family for their visionary approach to philanthropy in funding human cancer genetics research, a field with so much possibility but still so new," says Dr. John Mendelsohn, president of M. D. Anderson, who has been a strong advocate of the institution's aggressive development of the genetics program.

 

"Genetics research is our pathway to finding solutions for significant cancer challenges - developing new treatments, understanding what makes cancer cells different from healthy cells, and determining ways to correct or interfere with the process that leads to cancer," he adds.

 

M. D. Anderson already is a world leader in conducting research and therapy in genetics. Two separate projects conducted by Dr. Jack A. Roth, chairman of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and holder of the Bud Johnson Distinguished Clinical Chair, for the treatment of lung cancer; and Dr. Peter Steck, associate professor of neuro-oncology, for the eventual treatment of brain cancer, have already provided new hope for cancer research and attracted international attention.

 

In Dr. Roth's work, a normal p53 tumor suppressor gene is injected into lung cancer cells that are missing or have a mutated form of this gene. Subsequently, the presence of the normal p53 gene prevents cancer cell division and causes cancer cell death. Although the therapy is currently being used as a treatment for advanced forms of lung cancer, further gene therapy research is being conducted to apply the process to other hard-to-treat cancer disease sites.

 

In a separate project last year, Dr. Steck's research identified a gene known as MMAC1 (Mutated Multiple Advanced Cancers) that is expected to provide new insights into glioblastoma multiforme, a form of brain cancer, as well as some other types of cancer. The discovery of the MMAC1 gene also is expected to accelerate efforts to develop new treatments for breast, prostate and renal cancers and melanoma.

 

"Our family wanted to give a gift to something worthwhile and we decided M. D. Anderson was the perfect place to receive it," says Kenneth Cailloux, the son of Floyd and Kathleen Cailloux and vice chairman of the foundation. "Our meetings with Dr. Mendelsohn convinced us our gift to genetic research could help make great strides in treating cancer."

 

The gift will contribute to two major aspects of the genetics program, explains Dr. Louise C. Strong, director of the clinical genetics research program ad interim and the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Chair. The donation will fund the purchase of expensive pieces of highly specialized equipment that can be utilized by researchers from various disciplines, but would otherwise be too expensive for one department to afford. In addition, the endowment will support an array of research projects.

 

"This gift will provide us with the flexibility to pursue many areas of cancer genetics," Dr. Strong says. "It will allow us to utilize up-to-date equipment, develop new technology and actually apply it to specific questions in human cancer genetics. This will give us the opportunity to focus on human cancer genetics as an institutional priority and to develop more collaboration."

 

Floyd and Kathleen Cailloux lived in Houston for 45 years as Mr. Cailloux built a career in manufacturing and engineering. He spent 29 years as chairman of Keystone International Inc. and was its majority stockholder. The Caillouxes retired to Kerrville, Texas, in 1982. Keystone International was sold to Tyco International following Mr. Cailloux's death in 1997.

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