Julie Ward Research Articles

Abstract PR002: A pilot study of a MUC1 vaccine in current and former smokers at high risk for lung cancer

Abstract Background: Smoking is the most common etiology for lung cancer and smoking cessation does not eliminate the risk. An emerging area of interest for risk reduction is immunoprevention. MUC1 glycoprotein is aberrantly expressed in adenocarcinomas, including lung cancer and their premalignant lesions. MUC1 vaccine in the premalignant or high-risk setting may be effective in halting neoplastic development and progression. Trial design: Through the NCI-funded Cancer Prevention Network (CPN), we conducted a two-center pilot trial to evaluate immunogenicity of the MUC1 vaccine (assessed at 12 weeks), and safety (assessed at up to 24 weeks) in current and former heavy smokers. 87 participants were screened in order to have at least 40 evaluable for baseline and 12-week immunogenicity assessments. Smoking history of ≥30 pack-years and either current (still smoking or quit < 1 year prior to pre-registration) or former smoker (quit 1-15 years prior to pre-registration); ages 55-80 years; ECOG performance status ≤1; CT scan of the chest done ≤ 6 months prior to pre-registration showing either negative findings (no nodules) or solid or part-solid nodules < 6 mm in size (consistent with < 1% probability of malignancy, Lung-RADs Version 1.0). Exclusion criteria were standard for lung cancer screening. Methods: MUC1 peptide plus polyICLC adjuvant (Hiltonol) vaccine was given at week 0, 2 and 10. Blood was collected for safety tests and immune assays pre and 2 weeks post each vaccine, and at week 24. Anti-MUC1 IgG titer was evaluated by ELISA. Based on previous studies of this vaccine, 40 evaluable participants would provide 96% power to detect immune response rate of 15% versus 40%, using a 2-sided test of proportions with type I error rate of 0.05. PBMC were assayed for the presence of regulatory T cells (Treg) and myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC) (secondary endpoint). Circulating levels of inflammatory cytokines and hsCRP were evaluated using commercially available tests (exploratory endpoint). AEs and toxicities were monitored for up to 24 weeks from the first vaccine. Results: 87 individuals were screened and 50 registered. 45 completed the study, 26 current and 19 former smokers (time since last smoked: average 7.8 years; 11 months -13 years). The vaccine was well-tolerated with injection site reactions being the most common AE. Immune response to the vaccine was lower than expected, with 2 current and 2 former smokers developing anti-MUC1 IgG titers ≥2 fold higher at week 12 over baseline (10%). We found high circulating levels of MDSCs in PBMC of both current and former smokers and very low or no serum cytokines. Conclusions: A preventative vaccine trial was feasible in individuals at high risk for lung cancer. However, we discovered a high level of immune suppression, previously documented only in advanced lung cancer. Mitigating the development of lung cancer in heavy smokers through vaccine administration may be limited by related immunosuppression. Citation Format: Olivera J. Finn, Julie Ward, Tami Krpata, Samantha Fatis, John McKolanis, Jia Xue, Pamela Beatty, Camille Jacqueline, Sharon Kaufman, Colleen Akerley, April Felt, Karrie Fursa, Anne Holland, Liz S. Ambulay, Nathan Foster, Ryan McMurray, Carrie Strand, Andres M. Salazar, Lisa Bengtson, Eva Szabo, Paul Limburg, Malgorzata Wojtowicz, David E. Midthun, Arjun Pennathur. A pilot study of a MUC1 vaccine in current and former smokers at high risk for lung cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Precision Prevention, Early Detection, and Interception of Cancer; 2022 Nov 17-19; Austin, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2023;16(1 Suppl): Abstract nr PR002.

Abstract CT222: A pilot study of a MUC1 vaccine in current and former smokers at high risk for lung cancer

Abstract Background: Smoking is the most common etiology for lung cancer. Smoking cessation, even when successful, does not eliminate risk of lung cancer. With inconsistent results of lung chemoprevention trials, an emerging area of interest is immunoprevention, in particular vaccines. MUC1 is a transmembrane glycoprotein aberrantly overexpressed in adenocarcinomas, including lung cancer. Abnormal MUC1 expression is also characteristic of premalignant lesions, including bronchial dysplasia and atypical adenomatous hyperplasia. This suggests that immunization with a MUC1 vaccine in the premalignant or high-risk setting, before the tumor and cytotoxic therapy could suppress the immune system, might be effective in inducing strong immunity and reducing cancer risk. Trial design: Leveraging the infrastructure of the NCI-funded Cancer Prevention Network (CPN) consortium, we are conducting a two-center pilot trial to evaluate co-primary endpoints: immunogenicity of the MUC1 peptide plus polyICLC adjuvant vaccine (assessed at 12 weeks) and safety (assessed at up to 24 weeks) in current and former smokers who are at high risk for lung cancer. 50 participants will be screened in order to have 40 evaluable participants for baseline and 12-week immunogenicity assessments. Eligibility: Smoking history of ≥30 pack-years and either current smoker (still smoking or quit < 1 year prior to pre-registration) or former smoker (quit 1-15 years prior to pre-registration); ages 55-80 years; ECOG performance status ≤1; CT scan of the chest done ≤ 6 months prior to pre-registration showing either negative findings (no nodules) or solid or part-solid nodules < 6 mm in size (consistent with < 1% probability of malignancy, Lung-RADs Version 1.0). Exclusion criteria are standard. Immunogenicity and safety: MUC1 peptide plus polyICLC adjuvant vaccine will be administered at week 0, 2 and 10. The primary endpoint is anti-MUC1 IgG titer that is ≥2 fold higher at week 12 compared to baseline. Based on previous studies of this vaccine, we expect that 40 evaluable participants will provide 96% power to detect immunogenicity response rate of 15% versus 40% using a 2-sided test of proportions with type I error rate of 0.05. AEs and toxicities will be monitored for up to 24 weeks from the first vaccine. Secondary Objectives: We will explore differences, if any, in vaccine immunogenicity in current vs. former smokers. Smoking induces chronic inflammation (hallmark of cancer) associated with immunosuppression. We will evaluate pre-vaccination levels of circulating myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and correlate with the response to the vaccine. We will explore the impact, if any, of this vaccine on the markers of inflammation (hsCRP, IL-6) and the effect of baseline levels of these markers on the ability to successfully vaccinate. We will also assess the relationship between COPD status and immune response in current versus former smokers. The trial is open to accrual. Citation Format: Olivera J. Finn, Julie Ward, Tami Krpata, Lisa Bengtson, John McKolanis, Sharon Kaufman, Colleen Akerley, April Felt, Karrie Fursa, Anne Holland, Nathan Foster, Andres Salazar, Malgorzata Wojtowicz, Eva Szabo, Paul Limburg, David Midthun, Arjun Pennathur. A pilot study of a MUC1 vaccine in current and former smokers at high risk for lung cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr CT222.

Roundtable review: Contested modernities: Reading Musila's A Death Retold

The death of British tourist, Julie Ward, in 1988 in the Kenyan Maasai Mara has been recorded in the form of three non-fiction books, one fictional text, a feature film, numerous media reports and ...

Roundtable on Grace A. Musila’s A Death Retold in Truth and Rumour: Kenya, Britain and the Julie Ward Murder

Roundtable on Grace A. Musila’s A Death Retold in Truth and Rumour: Kenya, Britain and the Julie Ward Murder

Roundtable review: Land, Law, Rumour and Research

Round table of responses to Prof Grace A. Musila's book A Death Retold in Truth and Rumour: Kenya, Britain and the Julie Ward murder

Roundtable review: Cold case: The elusive story of Julie Ward's murder

Roundtable review: Cold case: The elusive story of Julie Ward's murder

Drama in the Dale: Transformation Through Community Drama

During the winter of 2011-2012, Weardale, England, was the setting for an ambitious informal adult education project. In this rural area in the northeast part of the country, the local arts collective, Jack Drum Arts, established a community play project entitled The Bonny Moorhen. This dramatic undertaking aimed to retell the story of the infamous Battle of Stanhope, a local lead miners’ uprising. The project took place in a converted barn and involved a group of sixty learners of all ages and from all walks of life. The troupe formed the choir, band, backstage crew, and company of actors who, with the support of professional artists, built a temporary theater space. Each member of this collective made a personal journey. Here Helen Mills and Alan Anderson, in association with Julie Ward, cofounder and project producer at Jack Drum Arts, offer their personal testimonies from the project.

Inscribing Memories on Dead Bodies: Sex, Gender, and State Power in the Julie Ward Death in Kenya

This article examines speculations on the circumstances surrounding the 1988 murder of the 28-year-old British tourist Julie Ward in Kenya, with a particular focus on how circulating discourses in Kenyan and British social imaginaries shaped these speculations. The article suggests that Ward's death took place in a discursive landscape marked by deeply layered and intermeshed contours of British and Kenyan social memories, which have over time crystallised into popular wisdom regarding the multiple intersections between sex/uality, race, gender and state power in Kenyan and British social imaginaries. Against this background, an understanding of social memories yields insights into the interpretative patterns emerging from the Julie Ward mystery, and the prominence of sex/uality in these speculations, as mapped along tropes of interracial rape, female sexual moralities and phallic state power.

Interview With Julie Ward, Former Deputy Managing Editor, Sports, for USA Today

Julie Ward was deputy managing editor at USA Today for nearly 2 decades, from 1989 to 2007. She joined USA Today as a general-assignment reporter in 1984 and also was an assignment editor for the NBA, golf, tennis, motor sports, boxing, colleges, and high schools. USA Today is the top-circulation daily newspaper in the United States. Ward led the USA Today team that won the 2002 Associated Press Sports Editors award for a story that revealed the 302 members of Augusta National Golf Club, which had been embroiled in controversy because of its policy to exclude women from membership. In 2007, Ward also won the Mary Garber Pioneer Award from the Association for Women in Sports Media. In December, she accepted a severance offer (buyout) and retired from working at the paper. Before joining USA Today, she was a reporter for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and the Belleville (IL) News-Democrat, where she covered women’s sports and was a columnist.

Between the Wildebeest, Noble Savages and Moi's Kenya: Deceit and Cultural Illiteracies in the Search for Julie Ward's Killer(s)

This paper examines the 1988 murder of British tourist Julie Ward in Kenya's Maasai Mara Game Reserve. It explores the search for Julie Ward's killers and how it is narrated in the three books on the case: John Ward's The Animals Are Innocent: The Search for Julie's Killers (1991), Michael Hiltzik's A Death in Kenya: The Murder of Julie Ward (1991) and Jeremy Gavron's Darkness in Eden: The Murder of Julie Ward (1994). Both the search for Julie Ward's killers and the narration of the case in the three books are framed within a distinctly British colonial archive, which reads Kenya(ns) through the twin tropes of exoticism and the political jungle of the postcolonial state. The paper argues that their embedding in this colonial archive resulted in an epistemological disarticulation between the British and Kenyan players in the search for Julie Ward's killers, as certain Kenyan textualities remained illegible to the British.

Remapping urban modernities: Julie Ward’s death and the Kenyan grapevine

This article examines rumour as a type of urban text which interrogates the officially proclaimed rationality of the modern state. Drawing on reported rumours and allegations about the death of British tourist Julie Ward in Kenya in 1988, it reflects on rumour as a medium that contests the legitimacy of hegemonic “truths” produced through modern institutions in Africa. In their critique of the amenability of modern state institutions to manipulation, the rumours and allegations of the Julie Ward case deplore the failure of the Kenyan state to deliver the promised benefits of postcolonial modernity. At the same time, the rumours engage with certain aspects of this modernity, including modern science and the law, in ways that underscore the porosity of discursive boundaries between “modernity” and “tradition” and which signal the layered continuities between the two.

The Julie Ward Inquest

The Julie Ward Inquest