Cancer Awareness Through Research and Education (CARE)

Mayo Clinic in AZ - Funding two Mayo Clinic projects: 1) Predicting Metastatic Potential Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma, and 2) Targeting Metastatic Prostate Cancer With Novel Fn14Predicting Metatasic Potential Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Using Gene Expression Profiling:Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) affects more than one million individuals annually in the United States. Its incidence is rising due to ultraviolet exposure and an increase in the population of elderly and immunosuppressed individuals. Most cSCC is curable by surgery, but metastasis occurs in up to 5% of patients. Metastatic cSCC carries a poor five-year survival (25-35%) and accounts for nearly 8,800 deaths annually, comparable to the mortality rate of malignant melanoma.There is a great need for more accurate identification of tumors with metastatic potential to truly characterize cSCC patients that are at high risk. Mayo Clinics research team has developed a method based on gene expression profiling (GEP) that can stratify intermediate to high-risk cSCC for overall survival by 20-fold and can properly stratify 95% of intermediate to high-risk tumors as non-metastatic and 70% of intermediate to high-risk tumors as metastatic. Validation of this panel would permit design of not only a new test, but an entire new way of assessing the risk in one of the most common human cancers, SCC.Targeting Metastatic Prostate Cancer With Novel Fn14 Inhibitory Compound:Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second leading cause of cancer related death in American men. Like normal prostate tissue, which requires androgen hormones produced by the body to function, so do prostate cancer cells. Thus, treatment for PCa frequently involves either reducing the supply of androgens by blocking androgen synthesis in the body or disrupting the stimulation of cancer cells through blockade of androgen receptor signals in cancer cells. This approach is known as androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Although initial response rates are promising, all men eventually progress on ADT and develop a resistant version of prostate cancer, which undergoes metastatic spread. At this metastatic stage, specifically when metastasized to the bone, PCa is incurable, and an increasing number of men are developing a highly lethal variant of PCa known as aggressive variant prostate cancer (AVPC). Androgen receptor signaling is lost in AVPC rendering the existing hormone targeting treatments ineffective. To date, very few therapies exist for AVPC and only offer minimal survival benefits in this setting. Thus, the identification and assessment of drug targeting VAPC are needed to effectively treat and control metastasis.

HonorHealth Research Institute - Funding two HHRI projects: 1) Uveal Melanoma Study, and 2) Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumor StudyUveal Melanoma:Uveal melanoma (UM) is a rare subtype that arises typically in the choroidal body of the eye. Unlike cutaneous (skin) melanoma, UM has been resistant to current immunotherapy and at the present time, there is no FDA approved treatment for this disease making it both a rare and refractory disease. HHRIs goal is to identify novel biomarkers for disease monitoring and diagnosis with the expectation that such biomarkers can be used to identify patients at highest risk for recurrence and utilize these biomarkers as a surrogate endpoint in the adjuvant setting.Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumor: Tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) is a rare sarcomatous proliferation of the synovium lining the joints. This disorder typically occurs in young men and women and most often impact the large joints, particularly the knees.By the time patients present for diagnosis, the TGCT proliferation if most often not completely resectable and surgery has limited value. MRI scans have classical features for this diagnosis but suffer from inaccuracy and the fact that a tissue diagnosis is needed to move forward with systemic therapy. Treatment for TGCT includes the orally administered targeted drug pexidartinib which can be associated with the development of liver failure making its use somewhat complex. The lack of a simple diagnostic test, as opposed to having to proceed with surgery and biopsy, places patients at greater risk for complications. We have identified this as a potentially game-changing opportunity since most of these patients present not only with the synovial proliferation but also with a detectable joint effusion (fluid) that can be aspirated. HHRI is proposing to subject new diagnosed and untreated patients to a joint effusion aspiration as well as the necessary surgical biopsy (if not already performed) to develop an effusion-driven biomarker analysis allowing an alternate mechanism for securing the diagnosis of TGCT