Sanford Burnham Prebys scientists have been awarded two collaborative grants with Rady Children’s Hospital and UC San Diego Health from Padres Pedal the Cause (PPTC), an annual fundraiser that aims to accelerate cancer cures. The projects unite the complementary strengths of clinicians and scientists with the hope of uncovering new treatments for colorectal, lung, breast and prostate cancers.
The grants stem from the record-breaking $2.94 million raised by thousands of participants in the November 2018 event. Launched in 2013, all of the proceeds raised by PPTC stay in San Diego to fund collaborative research that brings us closer to a world without cancer. Past PPTC grants have supported our Institute’s research into cancers of the breast, skin, brain, colon, pancreas and more.
The funded projects are described below:
- Protecting the gut and halting colon cancer growth (Svasti Haricharan, PhD, and Scott Peterson, PhD, of Sanford Burnham Prebys; Soumita Das, PhD, and Pradipta Ghosh, MD, of UC San Diego Health; Debashis Sahoo, PhD, of UC San Diego Health and Rady Children’s Hospital; and Sherry C. Huang, MD, of Rady Children’s Hospital)
This project will discover and characterize a pathway in the gut that normally protects the gut barrier from microbes—and is lost during the initiation of colon cancers. The researchers aim to uncover a therapeutic target that protects the gut from cancer-causing microbes and halts the formation and progression of colon polyps. The team will also validate biomarkers for detecting polyps in the colon at high risk for progressing to colon cancer.
- A new pathway to fractioning cancer (Michael Jackson, PhD, of Sanford Burnham Prebys; and Seth Field, MD, PhD, of UC San Diego Health)
To effectively combat cancer, therapies directed at new targets must be developed. A protein called GOLPH3 has been shown to drive the growth of several cancers, including lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancers. This project aims to find a compound that blocks GOLPH3, which would add a unique approach to the arsenal of cancer treatments.
The seventh annual Padres Pedal the Cause event takes place on November 16, 2019. Participants will cycle, run, walk, spin or volunteer in support of a world without cancer. Join our team or volunteer at our aid station in Mountain Hawk Park in Chula Vista.