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NCI awards $11 million grant to NYU Langone to develop immunotherapy biomarkers
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NCI awarded a 5-year, $11 million grant to NYU Langone Health’s Ronald O. Perelman department of dermatology to develop biomarkers that can predict whether immunotherapy will be effective for specific patients.
“The FDA’s approval of immunotherapies in this clinical context has led to an increase in the use of these treatments with expansion of adjuvant trials to other cancers,” Seth J. Orlow, MD, PhD, Samuel Weinberg professor of pediatric dermatology, professor of cell biology and pediatrics, and chairman of the department of dermatology at NYU Langone, said in a press release. “Identifying biomarkers predictive of benefit and toxicity is critical, timely, and promises to have broad applicability.”
This is NYU Langone’s first Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant from NCI. These grants promote interdisciplinary research to help ensure findings in the labraotory are applied to patient care quickly.
NYU Langone’s melanoma SPORE focuses on the role of checkpoint inhibitors for treatment of metastatic cancer, as well as how they can be combined with other treatment types.
“This SPORE grant is a well-earned recognition of the dynamic translational research program that our melanoma group has developed,” Benjamin G. Neel, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and director of Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone, said in the release. “Drs. Osman, Weber and the melanoma program investigators will apply their strengths to solve pressing needs in the melanoma field which can be extended to the increasing number of cancers treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.”