70 YEARS OF ACTIVITY For Cancer Patients

Israel Cancer Association // Annual Report 2022

Scientific Publications of ICA-funded Researches Prof. Uri Gophna, Dr. Betsy Half Research title: Microbial signatures for the early detection of pancreatic cancer Identifying specific bacteria that are either increased or decreased in the stool of patients at the early, treatable phases of pancreatic cancer. Such bacteria could form the basis of a new, non invasive, stool-based test that can be used for mass screening, and will provide a better chance of early discovery and better therapy for pancreatic cancer. Link to the scientific publication: Fecal microbiome signatures of pancreatic cancer patients – PMC (nih.gov) Dr. Aviad Zick Research title: Characterization of the elevated cancer incidence in the Haifa sub-district, accounting for residence history and personal variables such as smoking The Haifa bay area is exposed to known and suspected high concentrations of non-methane volatile organic compounds released into the air. The Israeli Cancer Association, together with the Israeli National Cancer Registry, published a cross sectional analysis which demonstrated significantly higher morbidity rates in the bay area. The study aims to evaluate the effect of living within this region on the incidence of cancer, while accounting for residence history and adjusting for personal health variables, such as smoking. Link to the scientific publication: Residence near industrial complex and cancer incidence: A registry-based cohort of 1,022,637 participants with a follow-up of 21 years, Israel – ScienceDirect

Prof. Jair Bar Research title: Establishment of primary culture model from pleural effusion of metastatic-NSCLC patients as a tool to study response to checkpoint inhibitors Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Immunotherapy, activation of the immune system against the cancer, is a new and promising treatment for many cancers including lung cancer and was introduced to metastatic lung cancer patients. The study examines the optimized ways to combine treatments and to identify the patients that will benefit from such combinations. It can also provide answers to untested questions and can be utilized to test novel drugs and combined therapies prior to conducting clinical trials on lung cancer patients. Link to the scientific publication: Immunotherapy response modeling by ex-vivo organ culture for lung cancer | SpringerLink Prof. Michael Peled Research title: Inhibition of HSP90 for ALK-positive lung cancer immunotherapy One of the drivers of carcinogenesis that are relatively unique to tumors and minimally expressed in normal tissues is ALK protein. Interestingly, while ALK vaccines induced immune responses that provided tumor protection in animal models, patients with ALK containing tumors did not respond to immunotherapy. This study tested for the first time if there are protein parts from ALK which are presented on tumor cells, and found very low presentation. Since inducing protein degradation results in increased presentation on the cell surface, and because HSP90 inhibitors currently under evaluation in clinical trials, can induce ALK degradation, we hypothesized that HSP90i treatment may result in enhanced ALK presentation, and an anti-ALK therapeutic immune response. Link to the scientific publication: Search results | Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (bmj.com)

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