Incidences and Clinical Characteristics of Subsequent Primary Cutaneous Malignancy Following First Primary Cancer Diagnosis
Incidences and Clinical Characteristics of Subsequent Primary Cutaneous Malignancy Following First Primary Cancer Diagnosis
Salma El-Behaedi
| Mentor | Jennifer Choi, MD |
|---|---|
| Award Type | Medical Student Award |
| Institution | Northwestern University |
| Donor Support | The Craig P. Merkel and James K. Saunders Memorial Award |
Description:
According to the latest published statistics by the NIH, there are almost half a million individuals who are cancer survivors after having been diagnosed with cancer at some point in their childhood or adolescence. These individuals may have a higher chance of developing additional types of cancer as they age, be it due to their family history, treatments they received for their cancer as children, or due to factors in their environments. Not much is known about the frequency by which these individuals develop a type of skin cancer called melanoma; after their first initial diagnosis of cancer as children or adolescents. Furthermore, although adult cancer survivors are monitored yearly with skin exam check-ups to look for early signs of possible skin cancer, the childhood cancer survivor population does not currently undergo such rigorous monitoring after they are treated for their initial cancer. Therefore, to
gain a better understanding of the frequency by which childhood cancer survivors develop melanoma we will be conducting a study to review the charts of hundreds of patients who are now childhood cancer survivors, with the goal that we can offer future patients better monitoring plans to hopefully guide future surveillance and prevention strategies.
Harnessing Resveratrol Mediated Upregulation of MHC-I to Potentiate Melanoma Immunotherapy
Harnessing Resveratrol Mediated Upregulation of MHC-I to Potentiate Melanoma Immunotherapy
Lauren Morehead
| Mentor | Alan Tackett, PhD |
|---|---|
| Award Type | Medical Student Award |
| Institution | University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences |
| Donor Support | In Memory of Susanne Milne |
Description:
While immunotherapy treatment has radically improved the outcomes of patients with advanced melanoma, around half of patients have no response. This is in part because of cancer cells’ altering of themselves so that they cannot be identified and eliminated by immune cells. The long-term goal of this project is to determine how the natural compound resveratrol undoes this alteration so that cancer cells can be recognized and eliminated by the body’s immune system.
Mechanisms Underlying Effectiveness of PI3Kd-Inhibited T Cells for Adoptive Cell Transfer Therapy
Mechanisms Underlying Effectiveness of PI3Kd-Inhibited T Cells for Adoptive Cell Transfer Therapy
Guillermo Omar Rangel Rivera
| Mentor | Chrystal M. Paulos, PhD |
|---|---|
| Award Type | Medical Student Award |
| Institution | Medical University of South Carolina |
| Donor Support | In honor of Christopher Westdyk |
Description:
Findings from this grant will shed light on 1) how stemness is sustained by modulating PI3Kδ signaling in T cells using FDA-approved drugs and 2) how transcription regulation in T cell mitochondria contributes to tumor immunity.
The Causal Role of Skin Pigmentation in Melanoma: A Machine-Learning Based Gene Prioritization Study
The Causal Role of Skin Pigmentation in Melanoma: A Machine-Learning Based Gene Prioritization Study
Sarem Rashid
| Mentor | Hensin Tsao, MD, PhD |
|---|---|
| Award Type | Medical Student Award |
| Institution | Massachusetts General Hospital |
| Donor Support | Randy Lomax Memorial Medical Student Award |
Description:
Pigmentation, or the coloring of the skin, hair and mucous membranes, has been shown to influence melanoma risk. Most, if not all traits and diseases, have a genetic component that influences development or susceptibility. These genetic components, or loci, can be determined using genome-wide association studies (GWAS). GWAS studies associate millions of relatively common genetic modifications between a healthy population and a population containing a trait or disease of interest. The assignment and interpretation of these genetic modifications has also proved challenging. In this study, we aim to utilize a series of computational approaches to determine whether GWAS associations between pigmentation and melanoma are truly causal rather than due to coincidence. We then use a machine learning algorithm to identify and assign a likelihood of gene involvement for each trait. This information will enable us to further examine the shared biological mechanisms between pigmentation phenotype and melanoma.
Exploring the Association of County-Level Social Vulnerability and Racial/Ethnic Minority Status with Stage-Specific Incidence of Melanoma and Cancer-Specific Mortality for Melanoma Patients
Exploring the Association of County-Level Social Vulnerability and Racial/Ethnic Minority Status with Stage-Specific Incidence of Melanoma and Cancer-Specific Mortality for Melanoma Patients
Tiffaney Tran
| Mentor | Kelly C. Nelson, MD |
|---|---|
| Award Type | Medical Student Award |
| Institution | The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| Donor Support | In Honor of Patricia Woo |
Description:
For patients with melanoma, timely diagnosis and prompt treatment are important for optimal outcomes, but some groups of patients may face barriers to accessing dermatology care, leading to treatment delay and disease progression. These potential differences in health outcomes between groups of patients are referred to as health disparities. Health disparities may manifest as a result of unequal opportunities or unequal access to resources that arise from variations in geographic locations, income levels, race/ethnicity, or other factors. To better understand the social and geographical factors underlying potential disparities in melanoma patients, I will extract Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) data for a group of de-identified patients with melanoma selected from a state cancer registry. The SVI is a tool recently developed by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) and comprises 15 different social and geographical factors at the neighborhood level, including those related to socioeconomic status (SES), minority status, and other social determinants of health (SDOH). While the SVI has lately been applied in other cancer care contexts, it has yet been applied to the melanoma context. The results of this research project will enable us to better identify vulnerable communities that may benefit most from a place-based strategy to prevent excess deaths from melanoma.
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