Melissa Reimers, Nikolaos Trikalinos, Kian-Huat Lim, Milan Chheda and Christopher Maher from the Division of Oncology received Siteman Investment Program funding for their research.
Dr. Reimers, Associate Professor of Medicine, will assess the safety and tolerability of dapagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor used to treat diabetes and heart failure, in patients with high-risk prostate cancer who will undergo surgical excision of the prostate.
Dr. Trikalinos, Assistant Professor of Medicine, and Dr. Lim, Associate Professor of Medicine, will evaluate the response rate of cabozantinib treatment in patients with high-grade neuroendocrine neoplasms that have progressed after first-line therapy. The researchers will examine tissue samples from responding and nonresponding patients to help determine who would benefit from the treatment.
Dr. Chheda, Associate Professor Medicine, will study the deleterious impact of brain tumor therapy on the normal brain. His team seeks to reverse this injury, which they believe will lengthen and improve the quality of patients’ lives.
Dr. Ryan Fields, Professor in the Department of Surgery, and Co-PI Dr. Maher, Professor of Medicine, are studying how a new class of molecules known as circular RNAs (circRNAs) promote colorectal cancer (CRC) metastasis and chemotherapy resistance, with the ultimate goal of “drugging” these molecules to impede metastases and improve patient care.