The UPMC Hillman Cancer Center just got $5 million to bolster its research on how microorganisms living in the body can influence cancer treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Oct. 1, the Hillman Cancer Center launched the new Mario Lemieux Microbiome Innovation Center, funded by The Mario Lemieux Foundation<\/a>, to increase research on the microbiome<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the Cancer Research Institute<\/a>, immunotherapy doesn\u2019t 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\u2019s immune system also attacks healthy cells, causing worsened side effects.<\/p>\n Abigail Overacre, an assistant professor of immunology in Pitt\u2019s School of Medicine and member of the Hillman Cancer Center\u2019s Tumor Microenvironment Center<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Overacre explained that outside donors are often wary of providing support to higher-risk experiments that aren\u2019t 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, the goal here is to put UPMC Hillman as the leader in microbiome research and cancer,\u201d Overacre said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d Angus said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Overacre is currently researching how immunotherapy treatment for cancer patients<\/a> can be impacted by previous treatments or a patient\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd 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,\u201d Overacre said.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>, which are complications associated with receiving immunotherapy treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThose are some of the really big things that we\u2019re 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,\u201d Overacre said.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s microbiome to predict their response and potential side effects to cancer treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe microbiome is one of the few factors affecting cancer treatment that we can actually change, through medicine and potentially through diet,\u201d Davar said. \u201cThis gift means patients here will have early access to research that could change how cancer is treated everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Davar also said the research will benefit patients who are no longer responsive to conventional treatments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn some patients, it may be possible to \u2018reset\u2019 the immune system\u2019s 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,\u201d Davar said.<\/p>\n