Pancreatic Cancer Collective
The Pancreatic Cancer Collective, an initiative of the Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer, is accelerating research for pancreatic cancer patients who desperately need better treatments. The Collective is creating a dynamic and fluid network to engage and influence medical institutions, researchers and companies, aligned to achieve something big and meaningful in pancreatic cancer.
The Collective is conducting nearly 30 clinical trials led by more than 400 research investigators at approximately 70 participating institutions, and is making groundbreaking progress in identifying new, cutting-edge therapies to treat pancreatic cancer and to improve patient outcomes.
The Collective’s New Therapies Challenge
Four projects supported by the Collective’s New Therapies Challenge grants have made it through the second round of funding, enabling researchers to take potential treatments into clinical trials and accelerate the discovery of new therapeutic options. These innovative ideas represent a bold step forward in helping patients and will support nine new clinical trials, five of which are already underway. The projects are:
Exploiting DNA Repair Gene Mutations in Pancreatic Cancer
Principal Investigators: Alan D’Andrea, M.D. and James Cleary, M.D., Ph.D., both from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Immunotherapy Targeting Mutant KRAS
Principal Investigators: Robert Vonderheide, M.D., D.Phil., Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Jaffee, M.D., Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins and Beatriz Carreno, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Molecularly Targeted Radionuclide Therapy via the Integrin AlphaVbeta6
Principal Investigators: Julie Sutcliffe, Ph.D. and Richard Bold, M.D., both from the University of California, Davis
Targeting SHP2 in Pancreatic Cancer
Principal Investigators: René Bernards, Ph.D., Netherlands Cancer Institute, Hana Algül, M.D., Ph.D., Technical University of Munich and Emile Voest, M.D., Ph.D., Netherlands Cancer Institute
These projects encompass several different approaches, from targeted delivery of radiotherapies (Drs. Sutcliffe and Bold), to vaccines against mutant KRAS, the mutation found in more than 90% of pancreatic cancers (Drs. Vonderheide, Jaffee and Carreno), to combination strategies to address mutations with DNA damage repair deficiencies (Drs. D’Andrea and Cleary), to KRAS activation (Drs. Bernards, Algül and Voest). The Collective also awarded two grants for computational approaches using artificial intelligence to mimic human reasoning and identify individuals in the general population who are at high risk for pancreatic cancer.
You can find out more about the Pancreatic Cancer Collective here.