Patient Care
In 2019, the OSUCCC – James treated 101,642 patients for an average daily occupancy rate of 87.8% and an average daily census of 311.6 patients. In addition, the OSUCCC – James received 698,286 outpatient visits. To accommodate continuing growth in patient volume, The James hired 244 new faculty and staff in 2019.
Clinical Trials
Patients at the OSUCCC – James have access to hundreds of clinical trials that offer some of the most sophisticated treatments available anywhere, including some that are available nowhere else. In 2019 researchers at the OSUCCC – James opened 188 clinical trials to bring the total number of available trials to 602, of which approximately 475 are interventional. The 2019 accrual rate for interventional trials at the OSUCCC – James was 34%. The five-year average patient accrual to interventional clinical trials here is 17% — well above the national rate of about 3% — and the five-year average for non-interventional clinical trials is 46%.
Total Cancer Care® Protocol
Since 2014, the OSUCCC – James has enrolled more than 58,400 patients (including 10,108 in the past year) for a 93% accrual rate in a Total Cancer Care® (TCC) protocol for voluntarily sharing de-identified clinical data that helps move cancer research forward and personalizes cancer care. The TCC protocol helps clinicians understand differences among cancer patients and find ways to individualize prevention, detection and treatment.
ORIEN Precision Medicine Collaboration
The TCC protocol referenced above has been adopted by all 19 member institutions across the nation that constitute the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN), a research collaboration that was co-founded and is co-anchored by the OSUCCC – James and Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. Through ORIEN, more than 282,000 TCC-consented patients from around the country have agreed to donate their clinical data for research to help scientists understand cancer at the molecular level, making ORIEN one of the world’s largest precision medicine collaborations to address cancer.
Research Grant Funding
The OSUCCC – James has nearly 300 full or introductory cancer researchers (along with several affiliate researchers) who collectively represent 11 of the 15 colleges at Ohio State. Each researcher is in one of five multidisciplinary research programs: Cancer Control; Leukemia Research; Cancer Biology; Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention; or Translational Therapeutics. In fiscal year 2019, OSUCCC – James researchers received 42 new research grants totaling over $12.6 million from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), bringing the institution’s annual total NCI grant funding to $44 million. The OSUCCC – James ranks 25th among cancer institutions in the United States for total NCI funding.
Research Publications
Medical scientists at the OSUCCC – James frequently publish cancer-related articles in prestigious scientific journals. Nearly 85% of the publications are collaborative among researchers within the five OSUCCC programs, and approximately 78% of the publications are multi-institutional. In 2019, cancer researchers at Ohio State authored or co-authored 968 journal articles, comments, reviews or letters, including 118 that appeared in journals with impact factors of 10 or higher. Here are a few examples of 2019 articles in top-rated journals (names in bold are OSUCCC members):
Herling CD, Coombes KR, Benner A, Bloehdorn J, Barron LL, Abrams ZB, Majewski T, Bondaruk JE, Bahlo J, Fischer K, Hallek M, Stilgenbauer S, Czerniak BA, Oakes CC, Ferrajoli A, Keating MJ, Abruzzo LV. Time-to-progression after front-line fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab chemoimmunotherapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia: a retrospective, multicohort study. The Lancet Oncology 2019; 20:1576-1586. Impact Factor: 35.386
Arthur DW, Winter KA, Kuerer HM, Haffty B, Cuttino L, Todor DA, Anne PR, Anderson P, Woodward WA, McCormick B, Cheston S, Sahijdak WM, Canaday D, Brown DR, Currey A, Fisher CM, Jagsi R, Moughan J, White JR. Effectiveness of breast-conserving surgery and 3-dimensional conformal partial breast reirradiation for recurrence of breast cancer in the ipsilateral breast: The NRG Oncology/RTOG 1014 Phase 2 Clinical Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Oncology 2019 November (Epub ahead of print). Impact Factor: 22.416
Smith MA, Choudhary GS, Pellagatti A, Choi K, Bolanos LC, Bhagat TD, Gordon-Mitchell S, Von Ahrens D, Pradhan K, Steeples V, Kim S, Steidl U, Walter M, Fraser IDC, Kulkarni A, Salomonis N, Komurov K, Boultwood J, Verma A, Starczynowski DT. U2AF1 mutations induce oncogenic IRAK4 isoforms and activate innate immune pathways in myeloid malignancies. Nature Cell Biology 2019;21:640-650. Impact Factor: 19.064
Sharman JP, Banerji V, Fogliatto LM, Herishanu Y, Munir T, Walewska R, Follows G, Karlsson K, Ghia P, Corbett G, Walker P, Egyed M, Jurczak W, Salles G, Janssens A, Cymbalista F, Wierda WG, Coutre S, Pagel JM, Skarbnik A, Kamdar M, Woyach J, Izumi R, Munugalavadla V, Patel P, Wang MH, Wong S, Byrd JC. ELEVATE TN: Phase III study of acalabrutinib combined with obinutuzumab (O) or alone vs. O plus chlorambucil (Clb) in patients with treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Blood 2019;134:31. Impact Factor: 16.562
Chiang CL, Goswami S, Frissora FW, Xie Z, Yan PS, Bundschuh R, Walker LA, Huang X, Mani R, Mo XM, Baskar S, Rader C, Phelps MA, Marcucci G, Byrd JC, Lee LJ, Muthusamy N. ROR1-targeted delivery of miR-29b induces cell cycle arrest and therapeutic benefit in vivo in a CLL mouse model. Blood 2019;134:432-444. Impact Factor: 16.562
Giacopelli B, Zhao Q, Ruppert AS, Agyeman A, Weigel C, Wu YZ, Gerber MM, Rabe KG, Larson MC, Lu J, Blachly JS, Rogers KA, Wierda WG, Brown JR, Rai KR, Keating M, Rassenti LZ, Kipps TJ, Zenz T, Shanafelt TD, Kay NE, Abruzzo LV, Coombes KR, Woyach JA, Byrd JC, Oakes CC. Developmental subtypes assessed by DNA methylation-iPLEX forecast the natural history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Blood 2019;134:688-698. Impact Factor: 16.562
Tsai M, Song MA, McAndrew C, Brasky TM, Freudenheim JL, Mathé E, McElroy J, Reisinger SA, Shields PG, Wewers MD. Electronic versus combustible cigarette effects on inflammasome component release into human lung. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2019;199:922-925. Impact Factor: 15.239
Koenigs MB, Lefranc-Torres A, Bonilla-Velez J, Patel KB, Hayes DN, Glomski K, Busse PM, Chan AW, Clark JR, Deschler DG, Emerick KS, Hammon RJ, Wirth LJ, Lin DT, Mroz EA, Faquin WC, Rocco JW. Association of estrogen receptor alpha expression with survival in oropharyngeal cancer following chemoradiation therapy. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2019 January (Epub ahead of print). Impact Factor: 11.238
Shukuya T, Yamada T, Koenig MJ, Xu J, Okimoto T, Li F, Amann JM, Carbone DP. The effect of LKB1 activity on the sensitivity to PI3K/mTOR inhibition in non-small cell lung cancer. Journal of Thoracic Oncology 2019 February (Epub ahead of print). Impact Factor: 10.336
Bekaii-Saab T, Wesolowski R, Ahn DH, Wu C, Mortazavi A, Lustberg MB, Ramaswamy B, Fowler J, Wei L, Overholser J, Kaumaya PTP. Phase 1 immunotherapy trial with two chimeric HER-2 B-cell peptide vaccines emulsified in montanide ISA 720VG and nor-MDP adjuvant in advanced solid tumors. Clinical Cancer Research 2019 February (Epub ahead of print). Impact Factor: 10.199
Bill M, Papaioannou D, Karunasiri M, Kohlschmidt J, Pepe F, Walker CJ, Walker AE, Brannan Z, Pathmanathan A, Zhang X, Mrózek K, LaRocco A, Volinia S, Bloomfield CD, Garzon R, Dorrance AM. Expression and functional relevance of long non-coding RNAs in acute myeloid leukemia stem cells. Leukemia 2019 March (Epub ahead of print). Impact Factor: 10.023
Mrózek K, Eisfeld AK, Kohlschmidt J, Carroll AJ, Walker CJ, Nicolet D, Blachly JS, Bill M, Papaioannou D, Wang ES, Uy GL, Kolitz JE, Powell BL, Blum W, Stone RM, Byrd JC, Bloomfield CD. Complex karyotype in de novo acute myeloid leukemia: typical and atypical subtypes differ molecularly and clinically. Leukemia 2019 February (Epub ahead of print). Impact Factor: 10.023
Drug Development Institute (DDI)
The DDI is a biotech-like institute embedded within the OSUCCC – James that employs a combination of targeted investments, strategic management and cutting-edge resources to drive projects from discovery to early-stage development of drugs for cancer therapy. Led by DDI senior director and clinical pharmacist Jeff Patrick, PharmD, the DDI is staffed by industry-trained scientists and employs a “dual-track” collaborative management process to ensure that all projects progress as efficiently as possible. Project activities are divided between the DDI and investigators, and are executed in parallel. The desired outcome is to advance projects to the point of partnership with industry to ensure that translational research performed at the OSUCCC – James can benefit patients. The DDI advances research through its pipeline, pilot and regulatory funding programs. A pipeline of early-stage therapeutic projects now in development includes:
- Activated B Cells as a Therapeutic Cancer Vaccine Platform – A novel B cell-based therapeutic cancer vaccine, with the potential to be personalized to an individual’s tumor signature, is being developed for use in treating a variety of cancer types.
- DHODH Inhibitors for Treatment of Hematologic Malignancies – Recent proof-of-concept research has rekindled interest in targeting cancers through inhibition of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH). The Ohio State University, in collaboration with Hendrix College, is developing a series of DHODH inhibitors for treating hematologic malignancies, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
- Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (ER-β Agonist) as a New Approach to Targeting Cancer – A novel series of selective non-steroidal estrogen receptor beta agonists is in development for treating cancer, precancerous conditions and potentially non-cancer indications.
- Mps1/TTK Kinase Inhibitor as a Treatment for Cancer – Mps1 is a protein that regulates cell division, and its overexpression is associated with poor outcomes in multiple tumor types. This team is developing selective inhibitors of Mps1.
- Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor as a Target for Multiple Myeloma – The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) has been implicated as a sensor of environmental chemicals and as a critical regulator of B-cell development. This team is evaluating small molecule inhibitors of AHR to address the significant unmet need in myeloma.
- Selective RAL A GTPase Inhibitors as a Cancer Treatment – The Ral A protein has been shown to be a critical node in the signaling pathways allowing growth of several types of cancer. This team is developing first-in-class, selective inhibitors of Ral A.