Pelotonia money also supported two previously established statewide initiatives that promote early detection and better outcomes for patients with lung and endometrial (uterine) cancers in Ohio.
Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology Launched at Ohio State With $102,265,000 Investment
The OSUCCC – James in July 2019 announced formation of the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO), a comprehensive bench-to-bedside research initiative focused on harnessing the body’s immune system to fight cancer at all levels, from prevention to treatment and survivorship.
Pelotonia, a grassroots cycling event that has raised more than $207 million for cancer research initiatives at the OSUCCC – James, has pledged $102,265,000 over the next five years. The largest portion of the pledge — $65 million — will directly fund the PIIO. The remaining dollars will continue supporting such well-established initiatives as Pelotonia Fellowships, Idea Grants, statewide research initiatives and the purchase of equipment for cancer research. The OSUCCC – James is also supporting the PIIO with a $35 million commitment to expand and sustain modern research infrastructure.
Zihai Li, MD, PhD, a renowned physician-scientist and immunologist, was recruited to Ohio State from the Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center in April 2019 as founding director of the PIIO. He will help Ohio State build on its already strong endeavors in immunotherapy, which is widely considered to be the next frontier in cancer treatment. The OSUCCC – James also plans to add up to 35 faculty over the next five years to work within the PIIO.
In addition, Li and other leaders at the OSUCCC – James are planning for multi-phase laboratory renovations to create advanced cellular lab facilities that will boost immuno-oncology research and lead to start-up initiatives and collaborations in immuno-oncology with other academic centers and industry partners.
OSUCCC – James Leads Statewide Initiative Against Lung Cancer
Recruitment continues for a statewide clinical research initiative taking aim at lung cancer, the No. 1 cancer killer among men and women in the United States. Led by Peter Shields, MD; David Carbone, MD, PhD; Mary Ellen Wewers, RN, PhD, MPH; and Barbara Andersen, PhD, the initiative is called Beating Lung Cancer – In Ohio (BLC-IO) and is supported by $3 million from Pelotonia.
The initiative is drawing upon a network of 50 hospitals around Ohio that was established by an earlier Pelotonia-funded statewide project. BLC-IO has two aims: to assess the impact of advanced gene testing and expert advice on lung cancer treatment and patient survival; and to improve smoking-cessation rates among smokers with lung cancer and their family members (assess the impact of centralized telephone counseling and provider support on smoker cessation). Patient recruitment began in 2017.
Project leaders anticipate that more than 2,000 newly diagnosed patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer will enroll in BLC-IO via the community hospital network. Each enrollee will receive free testing for more than 300 genes in their cancer specimens, and the physicians who treat them will receive expert support for interpreting test results and determining treatments. BLC-IO also will provide smoking-cessation support for up to three years to all participating patients and family members.
Genomics-Driven Statewide Endometrial Cancer Research Initiative Underway
A statewide clinical cancer research project called Ohio Prevention and Treatment of Endometrial Cancer (OPTEC), which is supported by $1.56 million in Pelotonia funds, aims to recruit up to 1,000 women with endometrial cancer from nine participating medical institutions around Ohio and screen them for LS and other inherited genetic conditions linked to a risk of endometrial, colorectal, stomach and ovarian cancers.
This initiative originally called for recruiting 700 women, but that goal was reached four months ahead of schedule. Because the collaborating sites were eager to continue the study and partnership, an extension was granted to increase enrollment to 1,000.
The women’s tumor samples are undergoing molecular profiling to identify targeted treatments personalized to each patient’s tumor characteristics. Patients identified with LS and their at-risk family members will be educated about the importance of genetic testing and cancer-prevention strategies based on their increased risk for LS-associated cancers. Those whose tumors have defective DNA mismatch repair will be considered for immunotherapy clinical trials for endometrial cancer.
OPTEC is led by David Cohn, MD, and Paul Goodfellow, PhD, with multiple collaborators from the OSUCCC – James and Nationwide Children’s Research Institute. OPTEC is conducting LS screening with a novel one-step genetic sequencing technique developed by Goodfellow and Elaine Mardis, PhD, a geneticist at Nationwide Children’s Research Institute. Genomic profiling also will help identify patients who are most likely to benefit from new medical therapies, including immunotherapy drugs that target certain proteins.
In addition, OPTEC is supported by a five-year, multimillion grant that the National Cancer Institute awarded in July 2018 to principal investigators Goodfellow, Mardis and Heather Hampel, MS, LGC, for a study of “Combined NGS Tumor-Based Detection of Germline Lynch Syndrome Mutations and Prognostic Classification of Endometrial Cancers.”
The grant is helping researchers develop low-cost and highly sensitive tumor-based DNA methods to identify women with inherited forms of endometrial cancer and, at the same time, test for genetic changes useful for treatment planning. Studying DNA specimens prepared in clinically approved laboratories will make it possible to rapidly translate research findings to tumor-based testing that can be applied to all endometrial cancer patients and thus improve cancer prevention and treatment.