Under One Umbrella Honors Gynecologic and Breast Cancer Awareness Months
Sharing milestone discoveries in treating gynecologic and breast cancer
New CAR T-cell immunotherapy for ovarian cancer fueled by generous gift from Irene and Alan Adler
Oliver Dorigo, MD, PhD
Crystal Mackall, MD
Oliver Dorigo, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology, and Crystal Mackall, MD, Director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, have developed a new immunotherapy for ovarian cancer that will be studied in a clinical trial at Stanford.
This therapy utilizes CAR-T cells generated from the patient’s own white blood cells, also called T cells, that are genetically modified in the laboratory with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). This receptor binds to a protein called B7H3 which is present on ovarian cancer cells and allows the T cells to recognize the cancer. These very potent, anti-tumor immune T cells are infused into the patient and travel to the tumor site to kill ovarian cancer cells. This Stanford-only trial was made possible by a gift from Irene and Alan Adler and is bringing hope and new treatment options to patients who have exhausted approved therapies.
We invite you to explore the research and accomplishments of the SCI Women's Cancer Center Innovation Awardees for Fall 2024, all of which were made possible thanks to the generous collective support of Under One Umbrella donors.
In keeping with its core mission, the Stanford Cancer Institute offers Innovation Awards to support projects focused on the acceleration of basic, translational, clinical and population-based cancer research, and projects focused on specific types of cancer, such as pancreatic, breast, gynecologic and sarcoma cancers. We strongly encourage candidates of diverse backgrounds, women, and young investigators to apply.
- PROJECT PRIORITIES
- Bold and creative research projects
- Research related to health disparities
- Research related to priority cancers - breast, pancreatic, liver, lung, lymphoma, and sarcoma.
- Multi-disciplinary collaboration, including collaborations involving Stanford faculty beyond the School of Medicine or inter-programmatic collaborations across the seven SCI research programs
- Potential to lead (or is already leading) to an investigator-initiated clinical trial
- Plans for submission of an external peer-reviewed (preferably NCI) application
Allison Kurian, MD, MSc
Jennifer Caswell-Jin, MD
James Dickserson, MD
Kurian’s research focuses on the identification of women with elevated breast and gynecologic cancer risk, and on the development and evaluation of novel techniques for early cancer detection and risk reduction. Caswell-Jin studies the application of next-generation sequencing technologies to breast cancer care.
Ensuring equitable and high-quality care for all patients with breast cancer is a critical challenge. Disparities in care arise for a variety of reasons. Whereas some, such as a patient's insurance status, are beyond a clinician's control, others may reflect clinical knowledge gaps. With funding from the SCI Women's Cancer Center Innovation Award, Kurian, Caswell-Jin and Dickerson will examine whether clinicians providing suboptimal care share any common characteristics or patterns. The goal of the project is not to single out individual clinicians but to understand the factors that correlate with less-than-ideal care. By analyzing these patterns, the researchers hope to provide valuable insights to clinicians, administrators, and organizations, and enable development of tailored policy solutions. For example, they will examine whether clinicians appropriately prescribe chemotherapy based on established guidelines. If newer clinicians deviate more from established guidelines relative to more experienced providers, interventions could include additional mentorship to help new clinicians navigate the complexities of breast cancer treatment. By understanding and addressing such patterns, the research will reduce disparities in care for patients with breast cancer.
You can support innovative research and patient care programs at the Stanford Women’s Cancer Center by making a gift to Under One Umbrella online.
For more information, please contact Anne Longo, Cancer Specialist Fundraiser in Stanford’s Office of Medical Center Development at alongo@stanford.edu.