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Research Scholar Reports Progress Toward Potential Treatments for Peritoneal Spread

About 40% of gastric cancer patients experience “peritoneal” spread, the migration of tumor cells to the lining of the abdomen—a complication that shortens survival. Samuel J. Klempner, M.D., a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, is committed to improving the prognosis for these patients, largely by trying to understand why they typically don’t respond well to immunotherapy treatments.


Klempner made headway toward achieving that goal during his three years as a Ben Feinstein Memorial Research Scholar, during which he received $300,000 in funding from the Gastric Cancer Foundation and the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA). With momentum from that grant, which ended in 2023, he and his colleagues have since raised additional funding to pursue novel therapeutic strategies for patients with peritoneal spread.


During his time as a Research Scholar, Klempner and his colleagues profiled more than 600,000 cells from the abdominal fluid of 23 gastric cancer patients. The cells taken from the fluid, which is known as the ascites, included tumor and immune cells.

“To find a grant mechanism that's willing to support high-risk projects is not easy. [They] were willing to take a shot on something that was plausible but had only a limited amount of preliminary data.”

Samuel J. Klempner, MD

Massachusetts General Hospital

Klempner and his colleagues are now taking their key findings from that research and launching new studies aimed at discovering novel therapies for peritoneal spread. They have also expanded their dataset to include information from 100 patient samples.


In studying ascites from patients, Klempner’s team discovered high levels of several cytokines, or proteins, that suppress the immune response to cancer. They include IL-6 and IL-8. Klempner is now partnering with another lab at MGH to assess whether combining anti-IL6 and anti-IL8 drugs with immunotherapy treatments might boost the immune system’s ability to kill cancer cells in ascites. Read More >>
 
 

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Hans joins his friend, Chef Naina Bhedwar to prepare an inspiring red bean dish that is traditionally found in Northern Indian cuisine. This simple and fresh dish is high in protein and fiber and another great example of something to make once and eat multiple times throughout the week! Incorporating new flavors and spices into your meals doesn’t have to be complicated. As Chef Naina says, just adding two ingredients like cumin seeds and ginger makes magic happen!
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Research Roundup
 

Recent research milestones include the approval of a brand new class of gastric cancer medicine and insights into important treatment and prevention trends:


The FDA approved a first-in-class medicine to treat gastric cancer, Vyloy (zolbetuximab-clzb), an antibody that targets the protein claudin 18.2. In trials in patients with HER2-negative gastric cancer whose tumors test positive for claudin 18.2, the drug extended progression-free survival when combined with chemotherapy. 


The passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was linked to a 20% reduced risk of death from gastric cancer, according to a study led by Howard University College of Medicine. The study probed data from 2000 to 2020 and included patients in Georgia and New Jersey. Georgia did not adopt the Medicaid expansion provision of the ACA, while New Jersey did, but the researchers concluded that patients in both states still benefited from the law.


More than a decade after a research team tested over 180,000 people in China for the gut bacteria H. pylori, they reported that when they successfully treated those infected, they reduced the risk of those people developing gastric cancer by 19%. They concluded that they could prevent more than 85,000 cases of gastric cancer in China per year by treating H. pylori.
 
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