As this year draws to a close, we want to express our gratitude for your support. Your generosity enables us to push forward with new research initiatives and programs to assist patients and families. We will keep working until we find a cure.
If you have not yet donated, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution before year end.
Foundation Grant Winners Report Progress in Research Aimed at Combating Gastric Cancer
In 2021, the Gastric Cancer Foundation awarded two $100,000 grants to researchers pursuing novel approaches to treating gastric cancer, as part of our goal of supporting scientists who have promising but unproven ideas. We’re excited to report that the funding helped generate data that both grantees said will be vital to moving the research forward.

The grants were awarded to Timothy Wang, M.D., professor at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, who is focused on improving immunotherapy in gastric cancer, and Nina Salama, Ph.D., professor at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who studies the role of bacterial infections in the disease.

Wang’s research is focused on myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), immature cells that suppress the immune system’s T cells, which are critical for mounting an attack against cancer. MDSCs reduce the effectiveness of drugs that inhibit the immune checkpoint PD-1. Wang’s lab used the grant to develop two new mouse models of gastric cancer, and to test a combination in one of them that includes an anti-PD-1 drug and a novel protein called TFF2-CTP. They found that in the mice, the treatment decreased MDSCs and increased the population of cancer-fighting CD8-positive T cells by 50-fold.
"[The Foundation’s funding] allowed me to move in a therapeutic direction to something that could have promise for patients... I wouldn’t have gotten this far down the road had it not been for the grant.” - Timothy Wang, M.D.
Salama’s lab recently began studying the role of the mouth bacterium Fusobacterium nucleatum in gastric cancer and how it differs from that of the better-known stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori. The Foundation’s grant allowed Salama and her colleagues to build “organoids,” which are models of gastric cancer built from human or mouse stomach tissue. They are using mouse organoids of normal stomach tissue and of metaplasia—a precancerous condition that’s associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer—to study how H. pylori and F. nucleatum interact with stomach tissue.

In one study, Salama’s lab identified two types of gene expression that H. pylori induces in both mouse and human gastric cells, putting them on a path to metaplasia. F. nucleatum does not have the same effect, even though it also has been associated with gastric cancer, they found. They also discovered that treating the models with steroid that blocks inflammation reduced the expression of the two genes, even in the presence of the bacteria.
“I can’t emphasize enough how appreciative my team is to get this support... We’re developing tools that are really enabling us to carry this basic research on how bacteria can drive cancer forward.” - Nina Salama, Ph.D.
Free Workshop on Recent Advances in Treatment
We are proud to partner again with CancerCare to present Gastric Cancer: Treatment Advances on Monday, January 9th from 1:30-2:30pm Eastern Standard Time.

You can listen over the phone or online as a webcast. Participation is free, but pre-registration is required.
The Gesundheit Kitchen is here to support you throughout your nutrition journey. Here are a few seasonal favorites to warm you up and keep you cozy during the holiday season - now with ready to download recipes!
Research Roundup
Recent positive results from late-stage clinical trials of novel and existing drugs could expand the menu of treatment options for patients with gastric cancer.

Astellas Pharma announced positive results from a phase 3 trial of its investigational first-in-class drug, zolbetuximab, plus chemotherapy in CLDN18.2-positive and HER2-negative advanced gastric cancer. It improved progression-free and overall survival as compared to chemotherapy alone.

Merck reported that its immunotherapy drug Keytruda improved overall survival when combined with chemotherapy in a phase 3 trial in patients with a specific type of HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer. Patients taking the drug showed an overall response rate of 74% versus 52% among those in the control group.

In a phase 3 study in China, the investigational drug Elunate (fruquintinib) from Hutchmed improved progression-free survival when combined with paclitaxel in patients with advanced gastric cancer. It also improved disease control rate and duration of response when compared to paclitaxel alone.
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