Hillman Cancer Center receives $5M to increase microbiome research, advance immunotherapy cancer treatment

The UPMC Hillman Cancer Center just got $5 million to bolster its research on how microorganisms living in the body can influence cancer treatment. 

On Oct. 1, the Hillman Cancer Center launched the new Mario Lemieux Microbiome Innovation Center, funded by The Mario Lemieux Foundation, to increase research on the microbiome, which is the combination of microorganisms, bacteria, fungi and viruses that live in and on the human body. With a better understanding of how the microbiome affects immunotherapy cancer treatment, patients may be able to have more effective, individualized care with fewer side effects, according to those involved with the new center.

The new center will focus on how these microorganisms, which play important roles in digestion, immune function and overall health, relate to how cancer develops and help advance treatment efforts. Immunotherapy research largely focuses on the overarching questions of why some patients respond better to treatments than others, and how to improve and individualize treatments. 

According to the Cancer Research Institute, immunotherapy doesn’t target cancer cells directly, but rather stimulates the nervous system to recognize and combat cancer cells more effectively. In contrast, chemotherapy involves administering drugs that are toxic to cells. The new center aims to address a risk of immunotherapy in which a patient’s immune system also attacks healthy cells, causing worsened side effects.

Abigail Overacre, an assistant professor of immunology in Pitt’s School of Medicine and member of the Hillman Cancer Center’s Tumor Microenvironment Center who studies how the gut microbiome can impact cancer, will be one of the lead researchers and a member of the steering committee at the new center. The steering committee is responsible for choosing which research projects or experiments will receive funding. 

Overacre explained that outside donors are often wary of providing support to higher-risk experiments that aren’t guaranteed to be successful. Though, with the help of the Mario Lemieux Foundation, the new center is able to work on risky projects that have the potential to significantly improve cancer treatment. 

“Ultimately, the goal here is to put UPMC Hillman as the leader in microbiome research and cancer,” Overacre said.

Nancy Angus, president of the Mario Lemieux Foundation, explained that the organization chose to donate because it has worked with the Hillman Center and Pitt previously, and so that patients can have better success with treatments.

“The center can provide a deeper understanding of why treatments work differently from one person to another, and then how that relates back to more positive outcomes and providing hope to patients and families,” Angus said. 

Overacre is currently researching how immunotherapy treatment for cancer patients can be impacted by previous treatments or a patient’s diet. These possible impacts, according to Overacre, can lead to further toxic side effects from the immunotherapy treatment that often lead to hospitalization, which may prevent patients from continuing treatment if the toll from the side effects is too large. 

“And the problem here is that most of the time, the people that experience these side effects are the ones that are responding to immunotherapy, and these side effects actually prevent them from continuing treatment,” Overacre said.

Overacre said there are a few overarching questions that need to be answered for immunotherapy to become an easier and more effective treatment for cancer patients. For example, researchers need to answer how the gut microbiome impacts immunotherapy efficacy and how it impacts immune-related adverse events, which are complications associated with receiving immunotherapy treatment. 

Keeping more patients on immunotherapy while also keeping them out of the hospital is another goal Overacre is attempting to reach with this additional research. 

“Those are some of the really big things that we’re hoping to achieve and really just bring the gut microbiome to the forefront of cancer treatment and really build it as one of the newest pillars of cancer treatment alongside immunotherapy and others,” Overacre said.

Another researcher and steering committee member of the new center is Diwakar Davar, an associate professor of medicine whose research centers around the dietary components of cancer treatment. Davar will be running clinical trials and building tools such as new software that incorporate a patient’s microbiome to predict their response and potential side effects to cancer treatment. 

“The microbiome is one of the few factors affecting cancer treatment that we can actually change, through medicine and potentially through diet,” Davar said. “This gift means patients here will have early access to research that could change how cancer is treated everywhere.”

Davar also said the research will benefit patients who are no longer responsive to conventional treatments. 

“In some patients, it may be possible to ‘reset’ the immune system’s ability to fight the cancer. Microbiome therapies are not a replacement for existing treatments, but they could become a way to make current drugs work for more people, and for longer,” Davar said.

Tess Cummings, an assistant professor of malignant hematology and medical oncology in Pitt’s School of Medicine and the associate director for research administration at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, explained the funding will be used to connect further research initiatives through UPMC and Pitt. 

“Right now, microbiome research is happening across many UPMC Hillman and Pitt laboratories. This center will help connect those efforts with shared resources and goals to help accelerate discoveries and propel new clinical trials, novel interventions, and more personalized treatment strategies for patients,” Cummings said.

Cummings envisions that the new center’s researchers will mentor Pitt’s oncology graduate and undergraduate students, along with graduate students of other programs. 

“[The new center will] give students the opportunity to design and conduct microbiome-related projects under the guidance of some of the best and brightest scientists working in this field,” Cummings said. 

Angus said the foundation intends to continue its history of supporting innovative research and build on that legacy with the donation. She said discussions of the donation began in early 2025, and that the donation was an easy decision. They have confidence this could be a world-class microbiome center.