Fight Colorectal Cancer and the Cancer Research Institute collaborated to develop a plan aimed at advancing colorectal cancer immunotherapies.
"A Blueprint to Advance Colorectal Cancer Immunotherapies" will be published in the November issue of Cancer Immunology Research.
Here's what you should know:
1. Dung Le, MD, of Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Al Benson, MD, of Chicago-based Robert Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center led the multidisciplinary, multi-institutional effort.
2. The blueprint intends to modify identified immunological factors in an attempt to improve immunotherapy in colorectal cancer patients. The groups hope that biomarkers and treatment strategies identified in the blueprint will become new standards of care.
3. To further support research efforts, the organizations jointly awarded Johns Hopkins' Cindy Sears, MD, a $400,000 grant to study "Gut Microbiome and the Immune Microenvironment of Human Primary and Metastatic Colorectal Cancer."
4. Fight Colorectal Cancer donated $200,000 to the grant which CRI matched. This was Fight Colorectal Cancer's largest grant to date.