NEW
YORK, Feb. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ --
The DeGregorio Family Foundation with support from the
Torrey Coast Foundation Gastro Esophageal Investigator Network
Initiative (GEMINI) has awarded $100,000 to Zheng
Chen, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, DeWitt
Daughtry Family Department of Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The
Grant is named in memory of Michael F.
Price, the noted value investor and philanthropist, who was
an early supporter of the DeGregorio Family Foundation.
Gastric cancer is
one of the deadliest malignancies globally,
with a five-year
survival rate of about 32 percent and a dismal
prognosis for patients diagnosed at stage IV. While immune
checkpoint blockade therapies, a type of immunotherapy that uses
drugs to block specific proteins on immune cells called
"checkpoints" from fully attacking cancer cells, have shown
efficacy in other cancers, their success in gastric cancer has been
limited. The response rate is around 30 percent and even worse in
"immune desert-type tumors," which have a low number of T cells and
a reduced immune response.
Dr. Chen's work addresses this critical need by
investigating FDA-approved drugs that
target specific molecular features within immune desert-type
gastric cancer, aiming to enhance therapeutic response to immune
checkpoint blockade therapies to overcome immune suppression within
the tumor microenvironment.
"Receiving this award is a tremendous honor and a crucial step
toward translating our research into meaningful clinical impact for
gastroesophageal cancer patients," said Dr. Chen. "With the
resources and collaboration made possible by this award, we are one
step closer to bringing new, personalized treatment options to
patients who currently have limited therapeutic choices."
"Enhancing immunotherapy in gastroesophageal cancer is a great
opportunity. We are excited about this grant and the possibilities
for crucial advancements in the field," concluded Lynn DeGregorio, President and Founder of the
DeGregorio Family Foundation.
The DeGregorio Family Foundation, founded in 2006 after a
10th member of the DeGregorio family died of stomach cancer, has
raised more than $12 million to fund
innovative research to cure gastric and esophageal cancers. It is
the only public foundation solely focused on funding research
grants for both of these cancers.
Click here to donate.
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SOURCE DeGregorio Family Foundation
