Bridge to Population Science Award

The purpose of the Bridge to Population Science Award is to provide pilot funding that will foster new and successful partnerships between members of the Cancer Prevention & Control research program and both the Cancer Biology & Immunology and Developmental Cancer Therapeutics research programs.

Overview | Eligibility | Evaluation | Timeline | Awardees

Overview

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center leadership anticipates distributing two awards of $50,000 per year for one year with the possibility of no cost extensions for up to one year. Extensions will require prior approval. One award will support a partnership between Cancer Prevention & Control and Cancer Biology & Immunology. One award will support a partnership between Cancer Prevention & Control and Developmental Cancer Therapeutics.

Sources of funding for the award include the Hollings Cancer Center Support Grant (P30 CA138313), fundraising from the LOWVELO bike ride, or other Hollings philanthropy/foundation accounts. PIs are expected to obtain regulatory approvals (e.g., IACUC and IRB) within three months of award decision. Please note that the funding cannot be released until required approvals have been obtained for any human and animal subject protocols and copies have been provided. For more information or questions regarding the Hollings Bridge to Population Science Award, eligibility, or the application process, please contact Renee Steffen (steffenr@musc.edu).

Eligibility

• Proposed research must be cancer relevant.
• At least one member of Cancer Prevention & Control (full or affiliate) and at least one member of either Cancer Biology & Immunology or Developmental Cancer Therapeutics, who will serve in Co-PI roles.
• Applicants must demonstrate a new collaboration.
• Applicants must make use of at least one of the seven Hollings shared resources.
• Applicants are encouraged but not required to include partnerships with South Carolina State University.
• All awarded PIs are encouraged to participate as a registered rider in the annual LOWVELO bike ride.

Evaluation

• Priority will be given to early stage investigators.
• Review criteria include:
  
  • Standard NIH criteria
  • Potential to lead to future NIH funding

2024 Awardees

Sphingolipid Metabolism in Regulation of Tumor Immunity to Predict BCG Treatment Response

 

Michael Marrone, Ph.D.

Cancer Prevention & Control member

 

Besim Ogretmen, Ph.D.

Developmental Cancer Therapeutics member

This award is funded in part by LOWVELO, MUSC Hollings Cancer Center's fundraising bike ride that channels 100% of rider-raised dollars into cancer research.

For patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), one of the most common types of bladder cancer, there is an unmet clinical need in predicting which patients will respond to front-line bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) treatment. To address this need, our team will investigate a novel pathway through which sphingolipid metabolism and signaling shape the immune microenvironment in the bladder to be unresponsive to BCG therapy. We will utilize clinical data and tumor samples from patients with bladder cancer treated at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center to measure sphingolipid biomarker in the collected tumor samples. With findings from this study, we will be able to determine the impact of sphingolipid metabolism and signaling on BCG-treatment response.

Elucidating the role of Myosin 5b in the progression on IBD associated colorectal cancer

Thomas Curran, M.D.

Cancer Prevention & Control member

Amy Engevik, Ph.D.

Cancer Biology & Immunology member

Mindy Engevik, Ph.D.

Cancer Biology & Immunology member

Erin Forster, M.D.

Gastroenterologist

This team's award is funded in part by LOWVELO, MUSC Hollings Cancer Center's fundraising bike ride that channels 100% of rider-raised dollars into cancer research.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a common condition where the digestive tract gets inflamed. People with IBD have a higher chance of dysplasia, which can lead to polyps, which can become cancerous over time. This transformation from dysplasia to cancer is a gradual process, and it's essential to detect and remove these precancerous growths through regular screenings, like colonoscopies.

Some IBD patients have low grade dysplasia that can't be seen during the colonoscopy, and these patients need special testing with random samples. However, not everyone sticks to this routine because it can be expensive, inconvenient and has some risks. Our team recently identified an important protein that regulates intestinal epithelial dysplasia: Myosin 5b.

Myosin 5b is a molecular motor which traffics proteins to the upper membrane of intestinal cells. We identified that Myosin 5b is the key transporter for the PAR complexes; proteins which control cell polarity. We found that mice lacking Myosin 5b had mislocalized PAR complex proteins, defects in cell polarity and increased proliferation: all hallmarks of dysplasia. We also found that inflammation was able to reduce Myosin 5b in a mouse model of colitis. Consistent with our animal models, we found that Myosin 5b was decreased in biopsies from IBD patients and almost completely absent from colorectal cancer samples.

Based on these preliminary data, we hypothesize that IBD patients with low grade dysplasia that do not progress to high grade dysplasia will have more Myosin 5b than patients that progress to colorectal cancer. Our long-term goal is to better understand and identify mechanisms behind cancer progression and identify new targets for cancer prevention. In Aim 1, we will examine the distribution of PAR complex proteins in patient tissue specimens. In Aim 2, we will inhibit Myosin 5b in human intestinal organoids and monitor dysplasia progression. Our research aims to show whether Myosin 5b can be a helpful marker in predicting which IBD patients will go onto develop cancer.