CIRM funds many projects seeking to better understand solid tumors and to translate those discoveries into new therapies.
Description
Solid tumors include cancers of the brain, ovary, breast, colon and other tissues. Many people believe that one quality solid tumors share is a reliance on cancer stem cells. These cancer stem cells are thought to divide to produce the bulk of the cells that make up the tumor.
The hypothesis suggests that unlike most cells of a tumor, the cancer stem cells divide very slowly and are less likely to be destroyed by chemotherapies that kill the fast-growing tumor cells. The thought is that cancers might recur because the chemotherapy kills the bulk of the tumor, but leaves behind the cancer stem cells that can, over time, form a new tumor.
Stem cell scientists are studying cancer stem cells from solid tumors in the lab to find ways of destroying them. If these cancer stem cells share characteristics that allow them to be destroyed by the same drug, then a single new drug could significantly improve cancer treatment for a range of different cancer types.
Clinical Stage Programs
Stanford University
The Stanford University team has found a protein on the surface of leukemia stem cells that protects those cells from elimination by the patient’s own immune system. They call this protein a “don’t eat me” signal. They will create an antibody therapy that blocks that protein and makes the cancer stem cell available to be attacked and destroyed by the immune system.
Forty Seven Inc.
This company is using the same antibody therapy as in the Stanford trial, this time to fight colorectal or bowel cancer. They are combining their antibody therapy with another antibody-based cancer drug called Cetuximab in hopes of treating patients with colorectal cancer.
University of California, Los Angeles
A team led by scientists at UCLA has identified several potential drugs that kill cancer stem cells from the ovary, colon and brain in the lab dish. They are now testing a drug for the treatment of cancer that works by blocking PLK4, a protein that is important in regulating cell growth, division and death. This protein is important for the survival of the cancer stem cell as well as the rest of the cells in a tumor. It is hypothesized that blocking this protein from working in the tumor may stop or even shrink tumor growth.
VIDEO Participant in UCLA clinical trial talks about his cancer diagnosis and his clinical trial experience
CIRM Grants Targeting Solid Tumors
Researcher name
Institution
Grant Title
Grant Type
Award Amount
Steven Dubinett
University of California, Los Angeles
A phase I trial of intratumoral administration of CCL21-gene modified dendritic cell (DC) combined with intravenous pembrolizumab for advanced NSCLC
Clinical Trial Stage Projects
$10,955,315
Dennis Slamon
University of California, Los Angeles
Therapeutic Opportunities To Target Tumor Initiating Cells in Solid Tumors
Disease Team Research I
$19,979,660
Irving Weissman
Stanford University
Clinical Investigation of a Humanized Anti-CD47 Antibody in Targeting Cancer Stem Cells in Hematologic Malignancies and Solid Tumors
Disease Team Therapy Development III
$6,505,568
John Zaia
City of Hope, Beckman Research Institute
Ex Vivo Gene Engineering of Blood Stem Cells for Enhanced Chemotherapy Efficacy in Glioblastoma Patients
Late Stage Preclinical Projects
$3,684,259
Mitchel Berger
University of California, San Francisco
Stem Cell-Mediated Oncocidal Gene Therapy of Glioblastoma (GBM)
Disease Team Research I
$6,214,914
Dennis Slamon
University of California, Los Angeles
A Phase I dose escalation and expansion clinical trial of the novel first-in-class Polo-like Kinase 4 (PLK4) inhibitor, CFI-400945 in patients with advanced solid tumors
Disease Team Therapy Development III
$5,683,693
Devon Shedlock
Poseida Therapeutics, Inc.
Late-Stage Preclinical Study of CAR-T Memory Stem Cells Targeting PSMA (P-PSMA-101) for the Treatment of Castrate-Resistant Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Late Stage Preclinical Projects
$3,992,090
Zack Jerome
University of California, Los Angeles
Generation of clinical grade human iPS cells
New Cell Lines
$1,341,000
David Cheresh
University of California, San Diego
CD61-driven stemness program in epithelial cancer
Basic Biology V
$1,161,000
Hideho Okada
University of California, San Francisco
Non-viral reprogramming of the endogenous TCRα locus to direct stem memory T cells against shared neoantigens in malignant gliomas
Quest - Discovery Stage Research Projects
$900,000
Zoran Galic
University of California, Los Angeles
Genetic Enhancement of the Immune Response to Melanoma via hESC-derived T cells
SEED Grant
$616,800
Michael Barish
City of Hope, Beckman Research Institute
Genetically-modified neural stem cells for treatment of high-grade glioma
Disease Team Planning
$55,000
Saul Priceman
City of Hope, Beckman Research Institute
Chimeric Antigen Receptor-Engineered Stem/Memory T Cells for the Treatment of Recurrent Ovarian Cancer
Quest - Discovery Stage Research Projects
$1,381,104
Elizabeth Lawlor
Children's Hospital of Los Angeles
hESC as tools to investigate the neural crest origin of Ewing's sarcoma
SEED Grant
$595,576
Robert Dillman
Caladrius Biosciences
Tumor stem cell-targeted immunotherapy for metastatic melanoma –a randomized phase 3 clinical trial.
Clinical Trial Stage Projects
$3,000,000
Philip Beachy
Stanford University
Pluripotent stem cell-derived bladder epithelial progenitors for definitive cell replacement therapy of bladder cancer
Quest - Discovery Stage Research Projects
$1,265,436
Antoni Ribas
University of California, Los Angeles
Stem Cells for Immune System Regeneration to Fight Cancer
New Faculty II
$3,072,000
Anthony Gringeri
ImmunoCellular Therapeutics
A Phase III randomized double-blind, controlled study of ICT 107 with maintenance temozolomide (TMZ) in newly diagnosed glioblastoma following resection and concomitant TMZ chemoradiotherapy
Clinical Trial Stage Projects
$5,391,016
Theodore Nowicki
University of California, Los Angeles
Genetic Modification of Stem Cells and T cells to Activate the Immune System to Target Solid Tumors
Clinical Trial Stage Projects
$4,693,839
Brigitte Gomperts
University of California, Los Angeles
Stem Cells in Lung Cancer
New Faculty II
$2,381,572
Albert Wong
Stanford University
2nd Generation Vaccine for the Treatment of Glioblastoma
Therapeutic Translational Research Projects
$2,929,889
Saul Priceman
City of Hope, Beckman Research Institute
A Phase I Study of Chimeric Antigen Receptor Engineered Stem/Memory T Cells for the Treatment of HER2-Positive Brain Metastases
Clinical Trial Stage Projects
$9,015,149
Siavash Kurdistani
University of California, Los Angeles
Epigenetics in cancer stem cell initiation and clinical outcome prediction
New Faculty I
$3,063,450
Owen Witte
University of California, Los Angeles
Identification of stem cell surface markers as potential therapeutic targets for advanced prostate cancer
Inception - Discovery Stage Research Projects
$209,160
Karen Aboody
City of Hope, Beckman Research Institute
Neural Stem cell-mediated oncolytic immunotherapy for ovarian cancer
Therapeutic Translational Research Projects
$2,873,262
Robert Wechsler-Reya
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute
The role of neural stem cells in cerebellar development, regeneration and tumorigenesis
Research Leadership
$5,226,049
Hiromitsu Nakauchi
Stanford University
Novel Rejuvenated T Cell Immunotherapy for Lung Cancer
Quest - Discovery Stage Research Projects
$1,968,456
Yuan Chen
University of California, San Diego
A Novel Approach to Eradicate Cancer Stem Cells
Quest - Discovery Stage Research Projects
$279,977
Antoni Ribas
University of California, Los Angeles
Genetic Re-programming of Stem Cells to Fight Cancer
Disease Team Therapy Planning I
$97,785
Mark Chao
Forty Seven Inc.
A Phase 1b/2 Trial of the Anti-CD47 Antibody Hu5F9-G4 in Combination with Cetuximab in Patients with Solid Tumors and Advanced Colorectal Cancer
Clinical Trial Stage Projects
$0
Dan Kaufman
University of California, San Diego
Human iPSC-derived chimeric antigen receptor-expressing macrophages for cancer treatment
Quest - Discovery Stage Research Projects
$222,200
Albert Wong
Stanford University
Recombinant Bispecific Antibody Targeting Cancer Stem Cells for the Therapy of Glioblastoma
Disease Team Therapy Planning I
$109,750
Dan Kaufman
University of California, San Diego
Targeted off-the-shelf immunotherapy to treat refractory cancers
Quest - Discovery Stage Research Projects
$1,936,936
Stephen Forman
City of Hope, Beckman Research Institute
Targeting glioma cancer stem cells with receptor-engineered self-renewing memory T cells
Early Translational III
$5,215,447
Yuan Chen
City of Hope, Beckman Research Institute
A Novel Approach to Eradicate Cancer Stem Cells
Quest - Discovery Stage Research Projects
$1,539,935
Antoni Ribas
University of California, Los Angeles
Genetic Re-programming of Stem Cells to Fight Cancer
Disease Team Therapy Development - Research
$14,144,221
Christine Brown
City of Hope, Beckman Research Institute
Phase I Study of Chimeric Antigen Receptor Engineered Central Memory T cells for the Treatment of Malignant Glioma
Clinical Trial Stage Projects
$12,753,854
Owen Witte
University of California, Los Angeles
Trop2 dependent and independent mechanisms of self-renewal in human cancer stem cells
Basic Biology IV
$1,254,960
John Cashman
Human BioMolecular Research Institute
Human Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells: Developing a Novel Drug for Cancer Eradication
Inception - Discovery Stage Research Projects
$303,785
Julia Unternaehrer-Hamm
Loma Linda University
Targeting cancer stem cells with nanoparticle RNAi delivery to prevent recurrence and metastasis of ovarian cancer
Inception - Discovery Stage Research Projects
$172,870
Noriyuki Kasahara
University of California, Los Angeles
Stem cell-based carriers for RCR vector delivery to glioblastoma
Early Translational II
$3,340,625
Michelle Monje
Stanford University
White matter neuroregeneration after chemotherapy: stem cell therapy for “chemobrain”
New Faculty Physician Scientist
$2,800,526
Bob Valamehr
Fate Therapeutics, Inc.
IND enabling development of FT516: A Natural Killer Cell Immunotherapy for Cancer Derived from a Human Inducible Pluripotent Stem Cell
Late Stage Preclinical Projects
$4,000,000
Karen Aboody
City of Hope, Beckman Research Institute
Stem Cell-mediated Therapy for High-grade Glioma: Toward Phase I-II Clinical Trials
Disease Team Research I
$17,890,623
Robert Reiter
University of California, Los Angeles
Clinical Development of an N-cadherin Antibody to Target Cancer Stem Cells
Early Translational IV
$4,075,668
Total:
$178,294,419.00
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