The Next Frontier of Cancer Care

Boldly Improving Awareness, Detection, and Treatment of Cancer

More hope exists for patients with cancer and their families because thousands of compassionate donors through The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital are selflessly helping create the next frontier of cancer research and care.

Research scientists and physicians at Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine are raising awareness about the need for early screenings, adjusting treatment plans for a greater and faster impact, and drastically improving diagnostic tools to create more precise and personalized approaches to cancer therapies.

These innovations are only possible through early investment from generous donors. Highlighted here are a few of the research scientists and physicians behind the innovation donors support through the Foundation.

Increasing Early Detection

Jean Wang, MD, PhD, gastroenterologist

Rectal cancer is a largely treatable disease with early and regular cancer screenings, yet colorectal cancer, including both rectal and colon cancers, is the third most common cancer in the United States and one of the top four leading causes of cancer deaths.

Dr. Wang notes that 30% of people over the age of 44 are not getting the colorectal screenings they should. Her study found that this population lives predominantly in rural or urban communities where access to health care and trust in health care providers are low.

In 2018, Dr. Wang co-founded the Missouri Colorectal Cancer Roundtable with the American Cancer Society and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to raise awareness about the importance of preventive screenings and offer free screenings through community events and outreach.

Additionally, she’s leading a five-year study to evaluate the benefits and risks of these new tools that detect over 50 types of cancers with a single blood test. Siteman Cancer Center is one of nine centers selected by the National Cancer Institute to join the national Cancer Screening Research Network to study the accuracy of this new blood test—a very important and exciting milestone for cancer detection.

Improving Quality of Life

William Chapman Jr., MD, MPHS, colon and rectal surgeon

Dr. Chapman sees an alarming increase of younger patients being diagnosed with rectal cancer, a trend that is demonstrated nationally as well. By 2030, over 25% of new rectal cancer cases will be in people under the age of 50.

Although rectal cancer is a largely treatable disease when detected early, treatment for people who are diagnosed later face a more challenging treatment, including surgery with life-altering side effects. Yet, radiation and chemotherapy alone will cure their disease for some patients.

For the past eight years, Dr. Chapman and his colleagues in biomedical engineering have been using photoacoustic imaging to help determine who needs surgery and for whom surgery is unnecessary.

The photoacoustic imaging, paired with an ultrasound device, helps the medical team see acute changes in blood flow that indicate the presence of residual disease or if the patient is responding to therapy.

With funding from the Foundation, Dr. Chapman’s team built an imaging device and conducted a pre-clinical trial that led to a clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These studies will create more personalized approaches to care and improve quality of life for patients.

Tricking the Immune System

Stephanie Markovina, MD, PhD, radiation oncologist

There has been little to no improvement in survival rates since the 1970s for many of the cancers
Dr. Markovina studies, such as ovarian, uterine, and cervix cancers. Motivated to find faster ways to improve survival in ways that better fit into patients’ lifestyles, Dr. Markovina is looking at the ecosystem of cancer cells for answers.

Thirty years of research indicate that cancer cells figure out how to misuse and abuse proteins that serve an important purpose in our bodies. In essence, Dr. Markovina wants to know how cancer cells trick the immune system and how they can be stopped faster.

Dr. Markovina received early seed funding from the Foundation and two subsequent grants from the NIH to develop drugs that target a specific protein—squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA)—with immunotherapy to decrease cancer growth.

While developing the drug therapy, Dr. Markovina worked to rearrange and reuse parts of standard therapies and treatments to reduce office visits for patients in clinical trials and, thus, create less interruption of their lives.

While it may take longer for a specific discovery to become mainstream, Dr. Markovina says patients around the world can receive care more quickly and efficiently through small incremental changes—such as reusing imaging and blood tests patients are already receiving as standard care.

“We can implement change and track measurable improvement and survival just using the information we have already,” Dr. Markovina says. “This is really the reason to invest in high-risk, high-reward research.”

See It To Treat It

Daniel Thorek, PhD, radiology and biomedical engineer

As a radiology and biomedical engineer, Dr. Thorek is developing new, highly sensitive diagnostic tools that combine with cancer treatment plans unlike ever before in a new field called theranostics.

While technological advances have made it possible to deliver radiation therapies safely and very specifically to tumor sites and cancerous cells, the toxic therapy could also enter the healthy tissues surrounding the disease and cause potential damage. Often, these are singular cells that are undetected by even the most sensitive imaging tools.

To address this shortcoming of a potentially lifesaving treatment, Dr. Thorek’s lab developed radionuclides, a chemical tool that localizes to sites of the disease and is detectable using noninvasive imaging tools when administered in microdoses to patients.

This gives physicians insight into where the drug goes in the body over time. These measurements inform the actual doses of radiotherapy to deliver a highly personalized therapy to every patient.

Philanthropic investments supported the exploration phase of this novel diagnostic and treatment plan and will be vital in securing the preliminary data necessary to compete for national funding.

A 14:1 Return on Investment

The research scientists and physicians featured received funding through the competitive Siteman Investment Program (SIP) at Siteman Cancer Center. Funding for this prestigious and unique grant program is made possible by donor gifts throughout the year to the Cancer Frontier Fund and other research funds at the Foundation. This early-stage funding often determines the ability, success, and rate at which scientific discoveries can progress from an early idea to patient care and treatment.

For every dollar awarded through SIP, research scientists and physicians leverage an additional $14 from national funding to expand and accelerate research—as demonstrated through these highlights.

More than 197 cancer research projects have been funded through SIP thanks to generous donors.