2024
Annual Report
Jessica Calderon-Mora, D.Ph., assistant professor of medicine, Department of Population Health at The University of Texas at Austin, is the principal investigator for a CPRIT-funded (RP240208) trial, Unidos contra el VPH. The trial is an HPV self-collection study aimed at reducing cervical cancer incidence and mortality in Latinx women by exploring screening options outside clinical settings. This approach considers the cultural and social barriers, such as cost, linguistic challenges, and cultural values that hinder in-clinic testing.
The researchers are evaluating the effectiveness of two different self-collection methods and measuring the beliefs and preferences toward self-collection methods compared to clinician-collected sampling in women residing along the U.S.-Mexico border. Dr. Calderon-Mora and colleagues administer the program at Project Vida Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center in El Paso, where screening rates are low and cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates for Latinx women are higher than non-Hispanic white women.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common liver cancer worldwide, has high recurrence rates after surgery and frequent late-stage diagnoses. While current immunotherapy drugs like pembrolizumab (anti-PD-1) have limited success on their own, researchers tested a new combination therapy pairing pembrolizumab with another drug, bavituximab, to improve outcomes.
CPRIT Scholar Yujin Hoshida, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Liver Tumor Translational Research Program at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and colleagues tested the combination therapy in a single-arm phase 2 trial for 28 evaluable patients with inoperable HCC. The combination treatment achieved a 32.1% response rate, which is double the response rate when the patient receives only pembrolizumab. Two patients showed no evidence of disease. Median progression-free survival was 6.3 months, and side effects were manageable in most patients.
Dr. Hoshida’s findings, published in Nature Communications in March, highlight the potential for using biological markers to predict the patients that may benefit most from the treatment, paving the way for biomarker-guided future studies. Notably, this trial successfully enrolled patients from diverse demographics, including a high proportion of non-White participants, demonstrating the feasibility of achieving diversity in HCC clinical trials.
UT Southwestern recruited Dr. Hoshida in 2018 from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai with the support of a $4 million CPRIT Recruitment of Rising Stars grant (RR180016).
CPRIT Scholar Carlos L. Arteaga, M.D., director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center and associate dean of Oncology Programs at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, published a study in Nature Communications in March 2024. In this study, Dr. Arteaga and fellow researchers tested a new combination treatment using two drugs, pemrametostat and fulvestrant, to address drug resistance in patients with ER+ breast cancer, the most common type of breast cancer. The results showed that the drug combination significantly slowed tumor growth in lab and patient-derived models, suggesting a promising new approach to treating ER+ breast cancer.
As director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Arteaga orchestrated an opportunity to further broaden UT Southwestern’s impact. In June 2024, AccessHope announced that the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center is the seventh National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated center in the AccessHope network. AccessHope connects employees with cancer to the latest cancer knowledge from partner NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers to share the latest discoveries in cancer care and assist local oncologists developing precise plans for treatment. Through this collaboration, more cancer patients will have access to impactful treatments and potential clinical trials from oncology experts at UT Southwestern.
UT Southwestern recruited Dr. Arteaga from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine with a $6 million CPRIT Recruitment of Established Investigators grant (RR170061) in 2017.
As the population in the United States ages and lifestyles and behaviors continue to change, experts anticipate the number of people diagnosed with cancer will increase over the next decade. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Connect for Cancer Prevention Study is a long-term, multistate initiative to better understand the causes of cancer and how to prevent it. Researchers are collecting information from 200,000 study participants that shed light on how lifestyle, genetics, and medical history affect the risk of developing cancer and how to prevent it.
Texas joined the NCI study in 2023 through a $7.5 million CPRIT grant to Baylor Scott & White Research Institute in Dallas and Katherine Sanchez, Ph.D., LCSW, research investigator. Dr. Sanchez and her team established the Texas Connect for Cancer Prevention Study and highlights the connection between CPRIT academic research grants and prevention program priorities.
The 25,000 participants in the Texas study are from urban, rural, low-income, and diverse racial and ethnic populations across 46 Texas counties. Through the program, Baylor Scott and White Health staff collect biological, environmental, behavioral, and demographic data, using electronic health records to securely store patient information. Participants contribute by sharing surveys, biosamples (such as blood, urine, and saliva), and health data, which help researchers identify patterns affecting cancer risk.
This long-term study follows patients over time to track how factors like aging, lifestyle, and treatments impact health. By uncovering these patterns, this research will shape future public health and cancer prevention strategies.
Led by CPRIT Scholar Thomas Yankeelov, Ph.D., professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and director of the Center for Computational Oncology, and David Hormuth, Ph.D., a biomedical engineer at the Center for Computational Oncology, both from The University of Texas at Austin, researchers developed a mathematical model to predict how a patient with high grade glioma will respond to radiotherapy. Because brain tumors are aggressive and treatment with radiation therapy is highly variable from patient to patient, this new methodology provides doctors with critical personalized treatment recommendations. Caroline Chung, M.D., M.Sc., FRCPC, CIP, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is co-primary investigator.
The team developed “digital twins,” which are virtual models that simulate how individual patients might respond to treatments like radiation therapy. By personalizing these models with patient data, doctors can predict the best treatment approach tailored to each person. The study showed that using patient-specific digital twins to optimize radiation doses extends survival compared to the standard dose. Using these digital twins, researchers also identified opportunities to reduce the total radiation dose while achieving similar tumor control, potentially reducing side effects.
UT Austin recruited Dr. Yankeelov in 2015 with the support of a $6 million CPRIT Recruitment of Established Investigators grant (RR160005). UT Austin and Dr. Hormuth received a $1.2 million CPRIT Individual Investigator Research Awards for Computational Biology grant (RP220225) in 2022.
CPRIT Scholar David Gius, M.D., Ph.D., the assistant dean for Research and associate cancer director of Translation Research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, studies the link between aging and cancer risk, focusing on the biology of the sirtuin gene family.
Using murine models, Dr. Gius investigates how aging and energy use in the body influence cancer development and tumor resistance. When antioxidant and energy-regulating enzymes, which manage energy and protect cells from damage, stop working properly, it can upset the body’s balance, leading to harmful byproducts that damage cells and contribute to cancer.
Dr. Gius’ recent research includes a study on the popular ketogenic diet, which is high in fat and low in carbohydrates and is known for helping adherents lose weight and manage certain health conditions. However, Dr. Gius’ study revealed that the ketogenic diet can trigger a chain reaction that activates a cell-aging protein called p53. This leads to cellular aging in multiple organs, which promotes cancer development. However, researchers discovered that those that followed an intermittent keto diet can reverse these effects. This study suggests that carefully timed breaks in the diet enhance its benefits while minimizing risks, supporting a personalized approach to using a ketogenic diet.
UT Health San Antonio recruited Dr. Gius from Northwestern University in 2020 with the support of a $6 million CPRIT Recruitment of Established Investigators grant (RR200112).
Cancer clinical trials are vital to research and prevention. CPRIT has made the support and expansion of clinical trials throughout Texas a funding priority. In 2021, CPRIT provided a $3 million Clinical Trials Network Award (RP210122) to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to create a clinical trial network with Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital of Harris County and The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
Today, MD Anderson partners with The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to serve as the lead institutions for the CPRIT-funded Texas Clinical Trials Network. These institutions provide the infrastructure and personnel needed to conduct and expand therapeutic clinical trials while improving the diversity of patient enrollment at six additional affiliate sites throughout Texas.
The partner institutions have designed the network to optimize the activation, conduct, and oversight of clinical trials. CPRIT funding facilitates academic collaborations between lead institutions and affiliates and offers trial sponsors access to diverse settings and populations. By sharing insights and strategies, the network aims to raise awareness of active trials and improve enrollment. To date, the network has activated 20 trials, with 11 currently in start-up.
Financial challenges often hinder potential clinical trial participants, leading to the underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities in research. This is a problem because patients may respond differently to medical treatments due to a number of biological factors including age, race, and ethnicity.
Baylor College of Medicine and Martha Mims, M.D., Ph.D., associate director for Clinical Research, received a $1.5 million CPRIT Texas Clinical Trials Participation Program Award grant (RP210143) in 2021 to improve participation in therapeutic cancer trials by implementing a financial support program for economically disadvantaged and racial/ethnic minority patients at the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Center treats most of the underserved cancer patients in Harris County via an affiliation with Harris Health. Over 95% of cancer patients at Harris Health have incomes that are less than four times the federal poverty level.
Harris Health patient navigators work with Dan L Duncan Cancer Center physicians and research coordinators to identify clinical trial candidates and help patients receive needed financial help for transportation, meals, and childcare costs during study visits. Led by Dr. Mims, the program plans to increase enrollment of economically disadvantaged patients and non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic patients by 300% by project completion and analyze factors influencing implementation.
A cancer patient’s ability to make informed decisions is critical to both prevent and cope with a cancer diagnosis. In 2019, CPRIT awarded a $1.5 million Individual Investigator Research Award for Prevention and Early Detection grant to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Robert Volk, Ph.D., to improve the quality of smoking cessation information and shared decision-making for lung cancer screening. The project is a collaboration between tobacco control and decision-making experts at MD Anderson, and two large medical centers with active lung cancer screening programs: The University of Texas Medical Branch and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler.
In 2024, CPRIT provided MD Anderson and Dr. Volk a $3 million grant to further strengthen resources available to assist patient decision-making through the launch of The Texas Decision Science Core. The Texas Decision Science Core builds on MD Anderson's expertise in producing state-of-the-science decision support tools for patients and clinicians across the cancer care continuum, from prevention to treatment, survivorship, and advance care planning. These tools include patient decision aids to help patients understand the risks and benefits of various treatment options.
Glioblastoma multiforme is a devastating brain cancer that few patients survive. Current treatment requires neurosurgeons remove as much tumor from the brain as possible while preserving critical functions. Doing this involves using an implantable electrode grid, called an electrocorticogram, placed on the brain surface to identify and avoid critical brain areas during surgery. However, electrocorticograms are rigid and do not conform well, the surgeon must frequently reposition the grid during the surgery, which can damage the healthy brain tissue.
CPRIT Scholar Christina Tringides, Ph.D., assistant professor in Materials Science and NanoEngineering at Rice University, is developing a new, thinner electrocorticogram that better conforms to the brain surface and improves surgical removal of glioblastoma tissue.
She is using hydrogels – a class of polymers that, like the brain, exhibit properties of both liquids and solids – to create an ultrasoft, flexible grid that reduces the risk of damaging brain issue. By modifying a hydrogel derived from alginate, a naturally occurring substance in seaweed, Dr. Tringides’ new electrocorticogram closely matches the brain’s mechanical properties and adheres to the brain in ways that current devices cannot. Researchers have tested this device on rats to record and map signals from the auditory cortex, a hard-to-reach area, which requires the device to bend more than 180 degrees.
With Dr. Tringides’ novel device, surgeons may soon have a tool to perform brain cancer surgeries with greater accuracy, leader to better outcomes for patients. In recognition of her groundbreaking work, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology named Dr. Tringides to its 2024 class of “35 Innovators Under 35.”
With the help of a $2 million CPRIT recruitment award (RR240005), Rice University recruited Dr. Tringides, from Eidgenossische Technische in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2023.
The Texas border region has the nation’s highest cancer incidence and mortality rate and, consequently, bears a disproportionate share of the cancer burden. To address this disparity, CPRIT has prioritized increasing cancer research and prevention efforts along the Texas border, approving more than $67 million for institutions and community organizations from El Paso to McAllen and Brownsville.
CPRIT awarded the region’s first Texas Research Excellence in Cancer (TREC) award (RP230419) in February 2023 to The University of Texas Rio Grande Vallley School of Medicine and director Subhash Chauhan, Ph.D., to create the South Texas Center of Excellence for Cancer Research. CPRIT established the TREC award to strengthen cancer research at institutions located far from the NCI-recognized research centers in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
With the support of this $6 million TREC award, the South Texas Center of Excellence for Cancer Research conducts basic, translational, and clinical research to improve early cancer diagnosis and develop strategies to enhance therapeutic outcomes of chemotherapies for minority populations in the Rio Grande Valley. The Center fosters collaboration of research projects with other Texas institutions, engages community partners, and facilitates translation of lab research into clinical practice. These efforts are vital for creating effective intervention strategies to address cancer disparities in this highly underserved region.
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), the second-largest majority Hispanic university in the United States, plays a vital role in serving its large minority community. Despite a significantly higher cancer incidence and mortality rate for Hispanics in the region, there is limited research focused on understanding and addressing these issues, which hinders the development of tailored treatments and diagnostics specific to this group.
In 2023, CPRIT awarded a $850,000 grant to UTEP and Weiqin Lu, Ph.D., professor in Pharmacy, to create an Institutional Postdoctoral Training Program for outstanding postdoctoral fellows, especially those from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. The program prepares the next generation leaders in cancer research to address cancer disparities and work toward improving cancer survivability in underrepresented populations.
This valuable program is critical for retaining outstanding postdoctoral fellows as faculty members while strengthening the cancer research infrastructure at UTEP.
CPRIT has provided over $46 million in grants to the El Paso region for research and prevention, including institutional projects and community prevention efforts.
Doctors diagnose nearly 1,200 Texans under 20 years of age with cancer every year. Despite intensive genotoxic therapy, nearly 20% of these children will die from their cancer. Those who survive face a lifetime of potential toxicities due to their therapy.
CPRIT awarded a $4 million grant to The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio to establish the Texas Pediatric Cancer Drug Testing Core (TPC-DTC) facility with resources available for academics and pharmaceutical firms in Texas. Researchers use this core to evaluate new drugs using patient-derived cancer models and to guide pediatric clinical development of novel agents and combinations.
Led by Raushan Kurmasheva, Ph.D., the TPC-DTC provides study design services, drug testing, genomics guidance, tissue microarrays that encompass pediatric cancers, and much more. The TPC-DTC has created over 200 patient-derived cancer models representing solid tumors, brain tumors, and leukemias. The childhood cancer models created by the TPC-DTC allows researchers and pharmaceutical companies to test novel treatments on these models matched with known genetic characteristics.
The Coordinating Center for Colorectal Cancer Screening across Texas (CONNECT) is a CPRIT-funded initiative launched in 2023 with a $3 million Prevention grant (PP230060). CONNECT created a statewide stakeholder network to develop, implement, and disseminate a Texas colorectal cancer screening strategic plan to increase the number of Texans screened for colorectal cancer. Navkiran Shokar, M.D., MPH, chair of the Department of Population Health at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, is leading the initiative in partnership with multiple organizations across Texas, including Federally Qualified Health Center partners such as Central Health-affiliated CommUnityCare Health Centers and Lone Star Circle of Care.
CONNECT partners with multiple organizations across Texas to leverage infrastructure and resources to support the expanded colorectal cancer screening across the state with a focus on medically underserved populations. The CONNECT team also assists programs to navigate and find funding for follow-up colonoscopies and treatment.
In August 2022, InformAI, a Houston medtech company received a $1.55 million CPRIT Seed Award for Product Development Research (DP220063) to build out their RadOnc-AI software. RadOnc-AI is an AI-enabled guided dose-prediction platform clinicians can use to predict the optimal radiation dose for a patient’s treatment plan. By carefully calibrating the radiation dose, this software, tested at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, lowers off-target radiation and reduces complications. The InformAI team has proven RadOnc-AI in practice and delivered over 700 radiation treatment plans to date. The company is part of the Texas Medical Center Innovation and JLABS innovation centers in Houston.
In March 2024, The National Institutes of Health awarded InformAI a $2.2 million Fast-Track to Phase 2 award for the product development and commercialization of its AI-enabled organ transplant informatics platform, TransplantAI, to optimize organ transplant outcomes. The advanced machine learning and deep learning methods used by TransplantAI results in superior predictive accuracy for transplant outcomes compared to existing models. Ultimately, the tool will service 250 transplant centers and 56 organ procurement organizations in the United States.
With the specialized resources available at the CPRIT-funded core facility, Children’s Access to Regenerative Medicine in Texas (CARMIT), researchers at Baylor College of Medicine are improving treatments for children with incurable brain cancers such as diffuse midline glioma (DMG) and other hard-to-treat central nervous system tumors.
These cancers do not respond to conventional treatments, so the team developed a new therapy using CAR T cells—a type of immune cell modified to target cancer. In a phase 1 study, Adrian Gee, Ph.D., and researchers at the Texas Children’s Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine enhanced these cells by adding a special receptor called C7R, which boosts their activity and improves their ability to fight tumors. Early results showed that this modified therapy, called C7R-GD2.CART, helped shrink tumors and provided clinical benefits for some children. The next phase of the study will focus on optimizing therapy delivery and understanding why some patients respond better than others.
As a CPRIT-funded core facility, CARMIT expands the services and capabilities available to cancer researchers and supports clinical trials for pediatric patients in Texas. During the five years since CPRIT’s investment, more than 130 Texas children received novel cell and gene therapies manufactured by the facility to treat blood and solid tumor cancers.
Baylor College of Medicine and Dr. Gee received a $5.3 million Core Facility Support Awards grant (RP180785) in 2018 to support CARMIT. In 2024, Baylor College of Medicine and Natalia Lapteva, Ph.D., received a $2 million renewal grant (RP240545) to continue support for CARMIT.
Immatics is a German biopharmaceutical company active in the discovery and development of T cell-redirecting cancer immunotherapies. In 2015, Immatics received a $19.65 million CPRIT New Company Product Development Research grant (DP150029) to launch its U.S. headquarters in Texas and build a sustainable, world-class cancer immunotherapy company.
Today, Immatics’ clinical ACTengine® program is a personalized therapy that genetically modifies a patient’s own T cells to recognize and attack cancer tumors. The company received FDA Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation in October 2023 for its ACTengine® IMA203 TCR-T cell therapy. This cutting-edge treatment targets PRAME-expressing tumors, a common feature in many solid cancers, and represents a promising approach to tackling hard-to-treat cancers.
Decades ago, Texas’ pre-eminent cancer research institutes and biotech companies faced challenges developing their discoveries due to the inability to scale up new drug treatments for clinical trials and commercial launch. In 2009, the State of Texas, through the Emerging Technology Fund, sought to fill this need by funding The Texas A&M University System to construct The National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing (NCTM), a multi-product flexible-by-design drug manufacturing facility for Phase I and II clinical trials.
In 2012, CPRIT awarded an $8 million grant (CP120038) to Kalon Biotherapeutics to establish the Texas Cancer Therapeutics Process Development Lab at the NCTM as a resource available for all emerging cancer drug discoveries.
Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation, acquired Kalon in 2014. Today FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies is a world-leading contract development and manufacturing partner for the production of biological drugs, vaccines, and advanced therapies, helping to expand Texas’ growing life sciences infrastructure and accelerate innovation.
Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and affects both men and women equally, despite common misconceptions. CPRIT awarded Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Izi Obokhare, M.D., a $2.5 million grant (PP210017) in 2021 to launch the Get F.I.T. to Stay Fit program to the fight colorectal cancer in the Texas Panhandle.
Get F.I.T. to Stay Fit uses a free, at-home testing method, Fecal Immunochemical Test, or F.I.T. to screen for colorectal cancer. Testing at appropriate intervals gives doctors the best chance to detect cancer in its early stages. Detecting colorectal cancer before it has spread increases survivability and improves the overall quality of life.
Get F.I.T. to Stay Fit provides education and clinical services in 32 counties in the Texas Panhandle to raise awareness and encourage early screening. To date, Get F.I.T. to Stay Fit has reached more than 1.1 million people. The program has educated 7,000 health professionals and connected with more than 6,000 people through face-to-face outreach. Over 3,600 Panhandle residents have completed F.I.T. screenings, with more than 500 colonoscopies completed and 420 pre-cancerous lesions removed.
Lara Savas, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, is a principal investigator for the Salud en Mis Manos (SEMM)/Health in My Hands program, a CPRIT-funded breast and cervical cancer prevention program by UT Health Houston. This program, which uses community health workers to deliver evidence-based interventions, has increased breast and cervical cancer screening among Latinas in 31 counties in Texas.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting Latinas, with cervical cancer diagnoses occurring at twice the rate of other women. To address these disparities, SEMM provides a breast and cervical cancer prevention class in English and Spanish, available virtually, over the phone, or in person. They also help remove barriers to screenings and HPV vaccinations, assist with scheduling low-cost or free prevention services, and offer limited funding for women who cannot afford these essential services.
UT Health Houston received three CPRIT Prevention grants (PP230038, PP190061, PP160047) totaling $6 million for the SEMM program. The most recent expansion grant allows the program to expand to an additional five counties, including Starr County in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Moore, Parmer, Potter and Randall Counties in the Panhandle.
OncoNano Medicine is developing a new class of cancer therapeutics to diagnose and treat solid tumors. Their ON-BOARD™ platform is advancing new therapies to meet the needs of patients with limited treatment options. By delivering cancer-fighting treatments directly to tumors, their technology improves effectiveness while reducing side effects.
OncoNano Medicine, a spinout company from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, received a $6 million CPRIT New Company Product Development Research grant (DP140072) in 2014 and two additional grants (DP200081, DP190066) to continue their work. They developed ON-BOARD™, a novel drug delivery system designed to increase effective tumor targeting by protecting therapeutic agents from premature release into the bloodstream. This technology uses nanoparticles to protect treatments like IL-12. Unlike traditional approaches that rely on targeting specific biomarkers on tumor surfaces, which can vary greatly between patients and tumor types, this method uses the acidity of the tumor itself as a trigger.
In a new study, OncoNano examined the safety and effectiveness of muONM-412, a nanoparticle-based treatment designed to deliver the cancer-fighting protein IL-12Fc in mice. They also tested ONM-412, a similar version developed for humans, in the lab.
The study found that ON-BOARD™ significantly improved the tolerability of IL-12Fc, as compared to unencapsulated IL-12. The encapsulated IL-12Fc treatment was highly effective at fighting tumors in a colorectal cancer model and created lasting protection against tumor regrowth.
OncoNano believes that ON-BOARD™ ultra-pH sensitive micelle technology can transform the targeted delivery of oncology therapeutics.
Low-dose computed tomography-based lung cancer screening for high-risk individuals decreases lung cancer and overall mortality, especially when paired with evidence-based tobacco cessation efforts. In 2019, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center received a $1 million CPRIT Prevention grant (PP190052) to provide lung cancer screening and tobacco cessation services to under- and uninsured residents of North Texas. Established at Parkland Health, the integrated safety-net healthcare provider of Dallas County, to date healthcare providers have ordered more than 9,000 low-dose computed tomography-based lung cancer screenings through the program. Among those screened, more than two-thirds are from under-represented racial and ethnic minority groups, more than ten times the rate reported in major lung cancer screening studies.
Based on the success of the original program, David Gerber, M.D., professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and the O’Donnell School of Public Health at UT Southwestern, expanded the program in 2023 with an additional grant (PP230041) to include people newly eligible for lung cancer screening according to revised federal guidelines. Nationwide, these individuals—who are younger and have smoked less than the original target population—are disproportionately under-represented. The expanded program features community outreach and longitudinal navigation, resulting in a near tripling of low-dose computed tomography-based lung cancer screening orders (more than 2,500 annually) since 2021.
Unhealthy alcohol use is an important but under-recognized risk factor for certain cancers, including breast, head, neck, liver, colorectal, and esophageal cancer. It is also associated with tobacco use and hepatitis.
In 2020, CPRIT awarded The University of Texas at Austin and Jessica Calderón-Mora, Dr.P.H., assistant professor of medicine, a $1 million CPRIT grant (PP200036) to implement a screening and telephone-based intervention program to reduce unhealthy alcohol use.
Prior to this study, practitioners screened adult patients with an alcohol screening instrument to identify patients considered unhealthy drinkers but provided no further systemic follow up. Dr. Calderón-Mora and her team implemented this program at two healthcare clinics, CommUnityCare Southeast Health and Wellness clinic in 2021 and Lone Star Circle of Care in Central Texas in 2023. At CommUnityCare, the team screened 6,500 patients. Following the screening, patient navigators engaged 700 patients and provided information and education about unhealthy alcohol use. The patient navigators followed up with more than 350 patients; more than 80% reported reduced alcohol use in the three to six months since their initial engagement.
This program demonstrates that screening and telephone-based brief intervention can effectively reduce unhealthy alcohol use in diverse populations served by federal qualified healthcare facilities. Dr. Calderón-Mora hopes to expand the program by providing additional counseling services and increasing the number of eligible patients.
Colorectal and breast cancer are significant public health concerns in the United States. Healthcare providers can effectively prevent, detect, and treat both cancers when identified early. However, access to preventive services and cancer screening remains a challenge, particularly in rural areas, which have limited healthcare resources and access to appropriate healthcare facilities.
Luis Rustveld, Ph.D., R.D., L.D., associate professor, Family & Community Medicine - Research Programs, at Baylor College of Medicine, initiated a CPRIT-funded electronic health record-based Patient Navigation Program in 2016 (PP160122) to increase timely colorectal cancer screening and follow-up, and to reduce racial/ethnical disparities in screenings available for Harris County residents. Based on the success of this program, CPRIT awarded Baylor College of Medicine and Dr. Rustveld another grant in 2021(PP200068) to expand the program to Nacogdoches and Shelby counties, an area of the state disproportionately affected by colorectal cancer cases and deaths.
As part of his ongoing efforts to understand colorectal cancer risk factors, Dr. Rustveld and colleagues analyzed a diverse cohort of 47,875 individuals who underwent screening at Baylor College of Medicine to explore how obesity and smoking affect the likelihood of developing colorectal cancer precursors. Among the 18,915 individuals who completed a colonoscopy, doctors diagnosed nearly one-third of the participants with colorectal cancer precursors, highlighting the importance of targeted interventions and health promotion strategies to address these risk factors.
In 2024, BCM and Dr. Rustveld received a CPRIT Prevention grant (PP240021) to expand his electronic health records-based Patient Navigation Program to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in breast cancer screening, furthering his efforts to reduce the cases of two of the most prevalent cancers in Texas.
Texas Southern University in Houston established the Breast Cancer Screening and Prevention Center (BCSPC) in 2018 to increase breast cancer education and mammogram screening rates in underserved patient populations, leading to earlier diagnoses and reduction in breast cancer related deaths. Veronica Ajewole, Pharm.D., along with her Texas Southern colleagues, received initial Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Community grants and built a successful framework of partnerships with churches, for profit and non-profit organizations, charity foundations, and student groups in Harris County.
In 2021, Texas Southern and Dr. Ajewole applied for and received a $1 million CPRIT prevention grant to expand the program to establish new partnerships with Federally Qualified Health Centers to provide no-cost screening mammograms, evidence-based culturally appropriate breast cancer education, and health-care barrier-reduction services to eligible patients in a five-county region that includes Harris, Grimes, Matagorda, Walker, and Wharton counties. The grant specifically targets women over the age of 40 and those with genetic or other elevated risk factors for breast cancer, even if they are younger than 40. Dr. Ajewole’s team has provided free mammograms to 1,300 minority women over the past three years. Because this program is a collaboration with many centers, eligible women who receive a breast cancer diagnosis within the program will receive treatment at no cost, completing the cycle of care.
In 2022 the BCSPC joined another CPRIT grantee, The Rose, to launch mobile mammography services at sites across the Houston region, increasing access and providing health care equity for underserved women in the region.
Tobacco use remains the leading cause of cancer in Texas and in the United States. Nearly 12% of Texas adults smoke cigarettes; however, significant disparities exist across regions and populations, with smoking rates ranging from 20-80% in some cases.
Since 2017 CPRIT has supported the efforts of Lorraine Reitzel, Ph.D., and the Taking Texas Tobacco Free program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center with nine grants totaling more than $7 million. This evidence-based initiative builds organizational capacity to implement system-wide, sustainable programs that reduce tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure among employees, patients, and visitors.
Through recent CPRIT-funded initiatives, the Taking Texas Tobacco Free program has partnered with 351 healthcare and community clinics as they adopt tobacco-free workplace policies, providing education to more than 17,000 professionals through 300 trainings, and disseminating tailored education materials to over 950,000 people. Taking Texas Tobacco Free program partners have strengthened tobacco cessation efforts statewide, delivering 15,000+ tobacco-related clinical services and referrals to priority populations across Texas who can benefit most from cessation support.
OncoResponse is a clinical-stage, immuno-oncology biotech company developing fully human monoclonal antibodies as therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and extending cures to the greatest number of patients.
Their proprietary human-antibody discovery platform identifies therapeutically relevant antibodies from patients with elite response to their cancer following immunotherapy. OR502, a novel, humanized antibody that binds to a protein, LILRB2, in a unique way to reverse immunosuppression in cancer, offers a potential treatment option for patients who have not responded well to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies.
OncoResponse received a $13.26 million CPRIT Texas Therapeutics Company Awards for Product Development Research grant (DP230076) in May 2023 to support a clinical study to study how OR502 works in humans and develop it into a powerful new medicine.
Clinicians dosed the first participant in the Phase 1/2 trial of OR502 in November 2023. The Phase 1/2 trial investigated the safety, tolerability, and preliminary anti-tumor activity of OR502 administered as a monotherapy and in combination with anti-PD-1 in subjects with advanced solid tumors.
In 2024, OncoResponse announced positive results for the study, including an excellent safety profile and encouraging early efficacy signals. The next phase of clinical studies will evaluate OR502 in two mini-cohorts of patients with cutaneous melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer.
Stingray Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company based in Houston, is developing the next generation of immunotherapies to combat cancer. The company identified SR‑8541A, a highly selective and potent inhibitor of ENPP1, which is highly upregulated as tumors become metastatic. SR‑8541A activates the innate immune system, enhances adaptive immune therapies, and offers a safer alternative for innate immune activation.
CPRIT approved a $13.8 million grant (DP240095) to Stingray to conduct a multi-center Phase 2 study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of SR-8541A administered orally in combination with two antibodies, botensilimab and balstilimab. The study’s goal is to show improved outcomes in patients diagnosed with metastatic microsatellite stable colorectal cancer. These patients frequently face poor prognoses.
Researchers are currently recruiting for the Phase 2 study (NCT06589440) that began in November 2024 at five locations, three of which are in Texas. Part 1 of the study is to establish the recommended dose of SR-8541A in combination with botensilimab and balstilimab.