When the Gastric Cancer Foundation launched the Gastric Cancer Registry at Stanford University in 2011, our hope was that the patient samples housed there would enable early-stage research that could lead to new cures. The registry’s primary investigator, Hanlee Ji, MD, has long believed that data generated from gastric tumor samples could help him and other researchers attract the large grants they need to turn insights into potential therapies—and now he has a major award to demonstrate the value of that model. Ji, Professor of Medicine at Stanford, is part of a team of researchers awarded a ..read more

In November 2023, Ash Garcia Horn ran the Seattle Marathon. That, in itself, would be a story worth telling, but there is so much more. Ash ran this particular race only days after losing her father, Armando Garcia Correa, to gastric cancer. It was the fulfillment of a challenge she had undertaken with her dad’s encouragement. She was determined to see it through, and she wanted to make it count. Throughout Armando’s cancer journey, their family used resources on the GCF website and became passionate about contributing to the search for a cure. She opted to transform her run into a fundraiser ..read more

The Gastric Cancer Foundation is proud to be a Founding Supporter of Test Your Biomarkers, a national education and awareness campaign launched on February 4, World Cancer Day, to inform people about the importance of biomarker testing in the treatment of stomach cancer. The Foundation has joined with an unprecedented alliance of researchers, oncologists, patients, caregivers, pharmaceutical companies and advocacy groups to reach the largest possible audience with this vital information. Cancer biomarkers are bits of information unique to an individual and their cancer. It is important to test ..read more

In 2022, the Gastric Cancer Foundation awarded a seed grant to Dr. Nilay Sethi to explore an innovative therapeutic approach for gastric cancer. One year into the grant, his research has shown promising results. Dr. Sethi is a specialist in medical oncology and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, as well as a physician at Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, where he focuses on gastrointestinal cancer. In the past year, Dr. Sethi has made great strides towards positively identifying patients who may be uniquely suited for a novel therapy. His research has focused on patients who co ..read more

A primary obstacle encountered by researchers with new, promising strategies to combat gastric cancer is securing financial support for early-stage research. The Gastric Cancer Foundation recently announced three $100,000 seed grants to bridge this funding gap and support research that may lead to innovative treatments. Research will be conducted at Case Western Reserve University, Columbia University and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Kishore Guda A $100,000 grant was awarded to Dr. Kishore Guda, Assistant Professor of Oncology at Case Western Reserve University, where he specializes in ..read more

As Samuel J. Klempner, M.D. approaches the completion of his three years as a Ben Feinstein Memorial Research Scholar, he’s reporting promising results from the research he was able to accomplish with the funding he received from Gastric Cancer Foundation and the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA) Klempner, a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, was awarded the $300,000 grant in 2020. His plan was to explore tumor and immune features of “peritoneal disease”—the migration of cancer cells into the lining of the abdomen. About 40% of gastric cancer patients experience th ..read more

Data from the Gastric Cancer Registry at Stanford University Medical Center has led to important new discoveries, according to primary investigator Hanlee Ji, MD, Professor of Medicine at Stanford. Ji reports that the registry’s research team has discovered a specific error in the genetic code of gastric cancers that indicates why some stomach cancers may respond to immune-based therapies while others do not. In another recent study, the team used registry samples to identify a potential new immunotherapy combination which may have improved responses. The registry team is now leveraging the ne ..read more

Shortly after she arrived at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis five years ago for her post-doctoral work, Martina Molgora, Ph.D., and her colleagues made a surprising discovery: An immune receptor known to play a role in Alzheimer’s disease is also prevalent in several types of cancer, including gastric cancer. Now she has an opportunity to learn more about the role of that receptor, called TREM2, in gastric cancer, thanks to a $300,000 research grant she has won from the Gastric Cancer Foundation and American Gastroenterology Association. Molgora is the fourth recipient of ..read more

Positive results from a phase 3 trial of Astellas Pharmaceuticals’ zolbetuximab and modified folinic acid, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin (mFOLFOX6) “may represent a new standard of care” in the first-line treatment of CLDN18.2-positive, HER2-negative gastric cancer. “Based on the results of SPOTLIGHT, zolbetuximab should be considered as an option for first-line therapy in combination with chemotherapy in patients with CLDN18.2-positive, HER2-negative, locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or [GEJ] junction adenocarcinoma… Zolbetuximab is being tested in other studies in CLDN18.2 ..read more

In a clinical trial, patients with gastric cancer who received low-dose olanzapine during chemotherapy experienced improved appetite and weight gain over those who received a placebo. “In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, the efficacy of olanzapine for appetite stimulation and weight gain during chemotherapy was assessed. Patients with untreated gastric, hepatopancreaticobiliary, or lung cancer were started on low-dose olanzapine (2.5 mg daily) or placebo at the initiation of chemotherapy. Among patients who received olanzapine, there was a higher proportion of ..read more