This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network features our member Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and Michael B. Atkins, MD, deputy director of the cancer center, William M. Scholl Professor, and vice chair of the Department of Oncology. Dr. Atkins is an international leader in translational and clinical research, with more than 30 years of experience working on melanoma, kidney cancer, and cancer immunotherapy research. He is a member of the HCRN Genitourinary Clinical Trial Working Group and is sponsor-investigator of the HCRN GU16-260 clinical trial. He also serves as chair of the Medical Advisory Panel for the Melanoma Research Alliance and co-chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee and board member for the Melanoma Research Foundation.

Prior to working at Georgetown, Dr. Atkins worked as a professor at Harvard Medical School and served in multiple leadership roles, including deputy chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office, leader of the Biologic Therapy and Cutaneous Oncology Programs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, co-principal investigator of the Harvard Skin Cancer SPORE, leader of the Dana Farber Harvard Cancer Center Kidney Cancer Program, and director of the DF/HCC Kidney Cancer SPORE.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Atkins’ research interests include immunotherapy, anti-angiogenic therapy, molecular targeted therapy, and predictive biomarker development, particularly in kidney cancer and melanoma. He has published more than 450 research and review articles, four books and has lectured extensively in these areas. He is associate editor of the Journal of Immunotherapy and serves on the editorial board of the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer. Read More

Erica Stringer-Reasor, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology & Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been appointed as a co-chair of the Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) Breast Cancer Clinical Trial Working Group.

Dr. Stringer-Reasor joins fellow co-chair Carey K. Anders, MD, a professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and a medical oncologist and researcher at Duke Cancer Institute (DCI). She succeeds Filipa Lynce, MD, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who recently completed her term as co-chair. HCRN co-chairs serve two-year terms and may serve additional terms with the support of their colleagues.

Clinical Trial Working Groups (CTWGs) provide a forum where researchers from member institutions collaborate to discuss and develop study concepts, identify potential co-investigators and sites to participate in studies, and review the progress of ongoing clinical trials. CTWGs also provide junior investigators an opportunity to receive scientific feedback and mentorship from their senior peers. The Breast Cancer CTWG meets by teleconference every other month, and (when face-to-face meetings are possible) in-person during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium annual meetings. Read More

A phase II study for adults with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer is testing the hypomethylating agent guadecitabine combined with the platinum-based chemotherapy drug carboplatin. The study is open to accrual at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center in Indianapolis, Ind.; IU Health Ball Memorial Cancer Center in Muncie, Ind.; and the University of Virginia Cancer Center in Charlottesville, Va.

More than 234,000 new cases of lung and bronchus cancer were estimated for 2018, 10 to 15 percent of which are small cell lung cancer. Small cell lung cancer is often treated with chemotherapy, which could be a platinum-based drug or another form of chemotherapy. However, eventually patients’ cancers stop responding to these drugs.

The HCRN study, LUN17-302, “A Phase II Study Evaluating Efficacy and Safety of Hypomethylating Agent Guadecitabine in Combination with Carboplatin in Extensive Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer,” will help determine whether the combination of guadecitabine with carboplatin is better, the same, or worse than the standard treatment and will evaluate the good and bad effects of this combined therapy. Read More

Investigators participating in Hoosier Cancer Research Network’s Thoracic Clinical Trial Working Group have named three of their colleagues to serve as co-chairs of the group. The new co-chairs are (pictured from left) Greg Durm, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine and a researcher at the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center; Mary Jo Fidler, MD, associate professor, Department of Internal Medicine at Rush Medical College, Rush University; and Ryan Gentzler, MD, associate professor of medicine: hematology and oncology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. They succeed former co-chairs Karen L. Reckamp, MD, MS, director of the Division of Medical Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, and Rachel E. Sanborn, MD, medical oncologist at Providence Cancer Institute. HCRN co-chairs serve two-year terms with the potential to serve additional terms with the support of their colleagues. Read More

A Hoosier Cancer Research Network study is testing a treatment combination for patients with gastric or esophageal cancer. The phase II study, HCRN GI17-319, focuses on adult patients whose cancer cannot be removed by surgery or has metastasized, and possess an amplification of the gene known as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2).

The study, “A single arm, multi-center Phase 2 trial of mFOLFOX6 + trastuzumab + avelumab in first-line, metastatic, HER2-amplified gastric and esophageal adenocarcinomas,” explores whether adding avelumab, a PD-L1-targeting drug to chemotherapy and trastuzumab, a HER2-targeted therapy, will control a patient’s cancer for a longer period compared to the current standard treatment. It will also test the safety and tolerability of this combined therapy. Read More

Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center are leading a multi-site phase II study through the Hoosier Cancer Research Network for previously treated metastatic esophageal cancer patients with specific genetic mutations. The study is now open to accrual at the IU Simon Cancer Center, Moffitt Cancer Center, and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

The study, HCRN ESO17-325, “A Phase II Study Evaluating Safety and Efficacy of Niraparib in Patients with Previously Treated Homologous Recombination Defective or Loss of Heterozygosity high Metastatic Esophageal/Gastroesophageal Junction/Proximal Gastric Adenocarcinoma,” will test the effectiveness of using the PARP inhibitor, niraparib, versus the current standard of care, in treating patients with one of three genetic mutations, including homologous recombination (HR) mutation in tumor tissue; high rate of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in tumor tissue; or a germline mutation in the blood. The study uses precision medicine by applying patients’ genetic information to guide treatment decisions. Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) features our member City of Hope and Joseph Chao, MD, a medical oncologist and researcher at the cancer center. Dr. Chao is a member of the HCRN Gastrointestinal Clinical Trial Working Group and has participated as an investigator on the HCRN GI16-288 and GI17-319 studies.

Research Interests and Expertise

I am a GI medical oncologist with a clinical focus on caring for patients with gastroesophageal cancers. My research interests involve clinical trials exploring novel therapeutics that are continually needed for this disease, particularly in advanced stages. Realizing that improving precision medicine and immunotherapy approaches requires in-depth knowledge of oncogenic mechanisms and tumor biology, I have extended my research efforts into translational analyses and biomarker development. Recent interests include work exploring more in-depth gastroesophageal cancer intrapatient intratumoral heterogeneity and its impact on the tumor immune microenvironment. Read More

Results from a multi-site clinical trial for patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) show that genomic testing for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy can be used to detect residual disease and identify which patients could be at high risk of relapse. The results were recently published in JAMA Oncology.

The preplanned secondary analysis was conducted from March 26, 2014, to December 18, 2018, using data from 196 female patients in BRE12-158, a phase 2 multicenter randomized clinical trial that randomized patients with early-stage TNBC who had residual disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy to receive post-neoadjuvant genomically directed therapy vs. treatment of physician choice. The study was led by the Indiana University School of Medicine and managed by Hoosier Cancer Research Network. Read More

Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) is currently seeking a full-time clinical project manager.

HCRN is an independent nonprofit contract research organization based in Indianapolis, Ind., that specializes in early phase, multi-center, investigator-initiated oncology clinical trials. Our studies are conducted through a nationwide network of more than 450 academic and community sites.

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This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) features our member Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and Nasser Hanna, MD, a medical oncologist and researcher at the cancer center. Dr. Hanna is a former chairman of the HCRN board of directors and a current member of the HCRN Thoracic Clinical Trial Working Group.

Research Interests and Expertise

The majority of my research has been in the field of lung cancer. My recent focus has been on the incorporation of immunotherapy for earlier stages of lung cancer and to tailor the duration of therapy based upon circulating tumor DNA as a marker for minimal residual disease. Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) features our member HealthPartners Institute and Arkadiusz Z. Dudek, MD. He’s a medical oncologist at Regions Hospital Cancer Care Center in St. Paul, Minn., an investigator at HealthPartners Institute, and a professor in the Department of Medicine at University of Minnesota.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Dudek is a medical oncologist who has more than 20 years of cancer clinical research experience, 21 years in the clinical management of cancer, and more than 19 years in the field of tumor biology, signal transduction, and cancer immunotherapy. His expertise is in design and execution of clinical trials for cancer therapy with a special interest in the development of novel cancer therapeutics. He has 18 years of experience serving in several leadership positions in clinical trial offices at the University of Minnesota and the University of Illinois. He chairs and manages a broad range of clinical trials (from phase 1 through phase 3, from cooperative group, investigator-initiated, and industry-sponsored studies) that are either therapeutic or non-therapeutic studies. He has authored and co-authored more than 125 publications in peer-reviewed medical and research journals for his work in lung cancer, melanoma, and kidney cancer. Dr. Dudek serves as medical officer in several startup oncology companies. Read More

A Hoosier Cancer Research Network study for patients with high-risk ocular melanoma, a rare type of cancer affecting the eye, is now open for accrual. According to the National Cancer Institute, ocular melanoma often doesn’t present early signs or symptoms.

Typically, patients with ocular melanoma can choose to have surgery to remove the eye, called enucleation, or receive radiation to the eye. After either treatment, patients are monitored for recurrence of their disease. Patients with high-risk ocular melanoma have a risk of cancer recurrence of up to 50% within 3 years after receiving initial treatment for their disease.

A number of treatment options are now available for patients with cutaneous melanoma, which begins in skin cells called melanocytes, the pigment-producing cells that generate pigments of our skin, hair, and eyes. However, progress in treating high-risk ocular melanoma has eluded researchers. Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) features our member West Cancer Center in Memphis, Tenn., and Daniel Vaena, MD, a medical oncologist and hematologist and director of the Genitourinary and Phase I programs at West Cancer Center and Research Institute.

Research Interests and Expertise

Dr. Vaena has particular interests in novel immunotherapy and molecular biomarkers for prediction of treatment efficacy. Dr. Vaena has expertise in clinical research auditing, clinical trials design and data quality, and has been a long-time member of the Alliance Cooperative Group Audit Committee.

West Cancer Center & Research Institute is the leader in comprehensive adult cancer care and research in the mid-south, providing a continuum of care to more than 30,000 individuals each year. With a 40-year history of clinical excellence and a longstanding commitment to groundbreaking research, West provides patients with a full spectrum of care, including access to Phase I through Phase III clinical trials. In 2019, West joined OneOncology — a partnership of the nation’s leading community oncology practices with a mission of driving the future of cancer care through a patient-centric, physician-led, data-driven, and technology-powered model. Read More

The American Society of Clinical Oncology’s ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program will feature abstracts from three Hoosier Cancer Research Network studies. The program, taking place May 29-31, will feature more than 250 oral abstract presentations and 2,500 poster presentations from 24 disease-based and specialty tracks.

The abstracts featuring HCRN studies include an oral abstract for GU16-260, a poster discussion for GU14-188, and posters for GU14-188 and LUN14-179. Read More

A Hoosier Cancer Research Network study for adult patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) will help doctors determine whether some patients could forego bladder removal and receive standard chemotherapy drugs and the immunotherapy drug, nivolumab. It will also test whether adding nivolumab to chemotherapy drugs, gemcitabine and cisplatin, works better than chemotherapy alone for treating bladder cancer that has invaded the muscle layer of the bladder. Correlative tests, including genomic sequencing, will play a critical role in identifying biomarkers that might help determine which patients could be spared the removal of their bladders.

People with MIBC are typically treated with chemotherapy and a radical cystectomy, or surgical removal of the bladder. Chemotherapy preceding surgery has been shown to increase the likelihood of curing bladder cancer compared to surgery alone.

The phase II study, “Neoadjuvant gemcitabine, cisplatin, plus nivolumab in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer with selective bladder sparing,” also known as HCRN GU16-257, is now enrolling eligible subjects, ages 18 and above, at Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai in New York, NY; City of Hope in Duarte, Calif.; Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah; Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore.; Penn Medicine Abramson Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pa.; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center in Madison, Wis.; and USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Up to 76 subjects will participate in the study. Read More

This month, Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) features our member University of Virginia Cancer Center and Ryan Gentzler, MD, MS, a thoracic medical oncologist and clinical investigator at the UVA Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center.

Research Interests and Expertise

Much of Dr. Gentzler’s research focuses on developing new drugs and therapeutic strategies for the treatment of patients with lung cancer. “While I have experience and interest in most areas of thoracic oncology, some areas of focus include combination therapy involving immunotherapy, novel combinations to overcome resistance for EGFR-mutant lung cancers, and new therapies for small cell lung cancer,” he said. “I also collaborate with basic and translational science researchers at UVA to study the immune microenvironment to further understand mechanisms by which lung cancer may be more vulnerable to immunotherapy.” Read More

Supporters of Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) donated more than $5,400 this spring through the Reps for Research challenge.

The annual event, led by HCRN Chairman Christopher A. Fausel, PharmD, and Jeanne Schilder, MD, involves contributions tied to the number of bench press repetitions they complete during the Arnold Sports Festival 5K Pump and Run event in Columbus, Ohio. The event took place on Sunday, March 8.

Thirty-four supporters answered the challenge in 2020, contributing $5,480 to support novel investigator-initiated research conducted by HCRN. Read More

In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) investigators report that switch maintenance pembrolizumab leads to additional objective responses and significantly prolongs progression-free survival in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer achieving at least stable disease with first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.

The multi-center investigator-initiated study, “A Randomized, Double-Blinded, Phase II Study of Maintenance Pembrolizumab versus Placebo after First-line Chemotherapy in Patients with Metastatic Urothelial Cancer: HCRN GU14-182,” was led by the Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and included 30 member sites of HCRN. Read More

As the books closed on 2019, Hoosier Cancer Research Network approached a familiar juncture. The organization’s steady growth, both in numbers as well as in the range and quality of service we provide, have led us to full capacity in our present location. There is only so much creative reorganizing you can do in a limited space.

I am pleased to announce that this spring, HCRN will move to its new home at 7676 Interactive Way, on the northwest side of Indianapolis. This new location, visible from I-465 between the 71st and 86th Street exits, nearly doubles the square footage of our space in the 500 North Meridian building, and offers ample room to expand in certain key areas of immediate and future need, such as:

• Additional storage space and resources for the biorepository and correlative research team.
• Additional conference rooms to accommodate the active schedules of Clinical Trial Working Groups and study-specific teleconferences.
• Additional offices and cubicles for our growing staff.

In many ways, HCRN has come full circle, experiencing familiar challenges that come with growth. While it may feel like we’ve been here before, viewing our “story” in perspective shows each cycle has led the organization to a new stage in its development. Read More

As a member of the Hoosier Cancer Research Network, I am grateful to collaborate with outstanding investigators in the development of multi-center, investigator-initiated clinical trials. I’ve seen the value of this collaboration throughout my own professional development: from my oncology fellowship under the mentorship of Dr. Larry Einhorn and Dr. Nasser Hanna to my current role as a lead investigator for a number of early-stage therapeutic clinical trials. HCRN has been a trusted and valuable resource every step of the way. In my new role as HCRN’s chief scientific officer, it is my goal to ensure HCRN’s research portfolio continues to reflect the scientific excellence and relevance for which it is highly regarded. Read More