Breast Cancer Research

William Gillanders, MD

• Continues to test a vaccine in a clinical trial. The results to date are very promising; and the vaccine appears safe with no significant toxicities.
• Although no patient has had dramatic regression of disease, all patients have had stable disease, and some patients have remained stable for over one year. No patients have had increased severity of disease.
• Data alludes to a significant immune response, which might mean that the vaccine promotes anti-tumor immunity.
• The data uncovered in this research enabled Dr. Gillanders to apply for and receive funding from Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Melanoma Research

Gerry Linette, MD, PhD, and Beatriz Carreno, PhD

• Led study to generate a more potent vaccine for patients with melanoma. The vaccine was manufactured at Siteman.
• Six patients have been treated to date, and three of those patients have positively responded to the vaccination.
• Drs. Linette and Carreno have identified a new immune deficiency in patients that fail to respond to the vaccine. Their ongoing research is focused on fixing the immune defect in order to increase the vaccine's effectiveness.
• The data uncovered in this research is enabling them to apply for additional research funding later this year to support the development of this new vaccine.

Gastric Cancer Research

Craig Lockhart, MD, and Robert Pufahl, PhD

• Continue to enroll patients into their study in which patients are treated for advanced gastroesophageal and gastric cancers based on their genotype.
• The Cancer Frontier Fund allowed them to expand the scope of their study beyond the original limited number of genes to include additional genes that may be associated with tumor response.
• Recently, the data uncovered in this research enabled them to compete successfully for additional research funding through the V Foundation.
• This additional funding will support whole cancer genome sequencing on patients in their study, allowing a more comprehensive genetic evaluation of the patients and their tumors. This information will help to identify new therapeutic targets for patients with advanced gastroesophageal and gastric cancers.

Leukemia Research

John DiPersio, MD, and Linda Eissenberg, PhD

• While stem cell transplants can be beneficial treatment for leukemia patients, they can also have severe side effects such as Graft versus Host Disease (a major complication that occurs when the new immune system established in the patient by the donor's cells sees the patient's tissues as foreign and reacts against them). Drs. DiPersio and Eissenberg continue their efforts to use genetically modified donor T cells to potentially establish the first non-invasive diagnostic test for predicting Graft versus Host Disease.
• These genetically modified donor T cells should retain the ability to combat the patient's leukemia.
• In addition, patients can be given a common antiviral drug to cause the genetically modified donor T cells to die should they show signs of causing Graft versus Host Disease. Normal patient cells will be unaffected.
• For the diagnostic test, the patient will need to be given a radioactive compound that can be detected by a PET scan. This radioactive compound is only functional for a few hours and so must be manufactured here at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University’s School of Medicine.
• The Cancer Frontier Fund permitted preliminary studies to be done that have enabled enrollment of patients and application to outside funding agencies to further support the trial.