NETRF announces $2.5 million research grants to treat tumors

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The Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation announced eight new grants totaling $2.5 million, aimed at neuroendocrine cancer research. With this newest round of funding, NETRF expands its portfolio to include research into lung neuroendocrine tumors, which affect about one in four NET patients.

The eight new projects explore some of the latest advancements in cancer:

  • CAR T-cell therapy combined with antibody-drug conjugates

  • Photodynamic therapy

  • Deciphering the impact of mutations in key genes in NETs

  • Improving outcomes by combining biomarkers and radiomics

  • “Smart” chemotherapy

  • Novel SSTR2 radioligands

  • Alpha-particle emitting agents for the treatment of lung NETs

  • Testing new cancer vaccine on NETs

NETs occur in hormone-producing cells, most commonly forming in the lung, pancreas, and gastrointestinal tract. Despite appearing in different sites, tumors forming in this cell type are classified as neuroendocrine and require different tests and treatments.

Two U.S. cancer centers will receive their first NETRF grant: Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and Moffitt Cancer Center. Two international organizations will also receive their first NETRF grant: BC Canada, Vancouver, Canada, and Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Other institutions funded in this grant cycle include the University of Pennsylvania, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Stanford University, and the University of California.

The NETRF grant process is a competitive and structured peer-review process, which starts with an annual call for letters-of-intent in late spring.

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The University of California, San Francisco and global oncology communities mourn the death of Felix Y. Feng, MD, a radiation oncologist and a leading figure in genitourinary cancer research. A professor of radiation oncology, urology and medicine, and vice chair of translational research at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feng died from cancer on Dec.10, 2024. He was 48.
The late Felix Feng, MD (center) with researchers Jonathan Chou, MD, PhD (left) and Lisa Chesner, PhD (right), in 2019.Photo by Noah BergerFelix Y. Feng, a genitourinary cancer research leader, died on Dec. 10, 2024. He was 48.This article is republished with permission by NRG Oncology.Dr. Feng was the former NRG Oncology Genitourinary Cancer Committee chair and an RTOG Foundation member. After years of dedicated and enthusiastic commitment to the NRG and previously the RTOG Genitourinary Cancer Committee, chairing or co-chairing 13 research protocols for NRG and RTOG, Dr. Feng was appointed committee chair in March 2018, following in the footsteps of Dr. Howard Sandler, his mentor. Dr. Feng was also a member of the RTOG Foundation Board of Directors.

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