A team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego have received millions in funding after their initial work showed major promise for head and neck cancer patients.
Philanthropic organization Curebound, which invests in cancer research and innovation, initially awarded a $200,000 grant to UCSD researchers J. Silvio Gutkind, Joseph Califano, and Ezra Cohen in 2021 to study how new immunotherapies could be used to help head and neck cancer patients.
Three years later, the team of doctors has advanced the understanding of immunotherapy resistance in head and neck cancers, and has been published in Cancer Cell and Nature Communications.
They have now received an additional $9.6 million in follow-on funding from the National Institutes of Health and launched a multi-location clinical trial at Portland Providence Medical Center and UC San Diego.
The research team has already found that preserving lymph nodes during treatment initiation helps the body’s immune system fight head and neck cancer more effectively; targeting a specific protein called HER3 can make immunotherapy work better in treating head and neck cancer; and that metformin boosts the immune system’s ability to detect and destroy cells that could turn into cancer.
“The swift success demonstrated by this incredible team in such a short time period is truly incredible, said Curebound CEO Anne Marbarger in a statement. “This impact is the reason Curebound exists.”
While immunotherapies have revolutionized treatment for various types of cancers, most head and neck cancer patients have seen little benefit, with clinical responses often lacking durability. This leaves these patients with limited options and often a poor prognosis.
An estimated 71,000 people will be diagnosed with head and neck cancer in the United States this year, and approximately 16,000 Americans will die from the disease in 2024.
If trials are successful, their research has potential to become a therapeutic option for patients with advanced stages of head and neck cancers — and it may also apply to other cancer types in which immunotherapy has not yet provided a clinical benefit.