PHASE ONE Grants Dr. Jason Sicklick $500,000 to Study Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST)

Researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine received a $500,000 grant from PHASE ONE Foundation to support their research in a Phase II clinical study for advanced or metastatic gastrointestinal tumors (GIST).

Led by Jason Sicklick, MD, associate professor of surgery at UC San Diego School of Medicine and surgical oncologist with Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health, the grant helps fill an urgent need for better treatment for people diagnosed with the disease.

Although there are treatment options for advanced or metastatic gastrointestinal tumors (GIST), these therapies are known to be largely ineffective in a much rarer subtype that is deficient in succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), a protein that is important for making energy for the body. The grant will support a Phase II clinical study to investigate how patients with mutant SDH (mSDH) GIST respond to treatment with Temozolomide, a therapy approved for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme and refractory anaplastic astrocytoma cancers.

Link to clinical trial on UC San Diego Health for more scientific details: https://clinicaltrials.ucsd.edu/trial/NCT03556384

“Clinical trials have the potential for immediate impact on patients and their families facing this rare, but deadly form of an inheritable cancer. Based on research in our laboratory, we believe that this drug may be an effective treatment for gastrointestinal tumors with mutant SDH. Our investigator-led clinical trial will be opened to enrollment in several additional sites across the United States and would not be possible without support from PHASE ONE Foundation,” said Sicklick.

“We are incredibly excited to be working with Dr. Sicklick and his team of investigators. He is giving hope to patients diagnosed with GIST, and we are thrilled to support his tremendously promising research, as he continues to target this rare type of cancer,” said Mieke Neumann, Board Member of PHASE ONE Foundation.

Sicklick is a physician-scientist at UC San Diego Health who specializes in treating cancers, including gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) and other abdominal and retroperitoneal sarcomas. His translational and clinical research interests include molecular mechanisms of GIST tumorigenesis and drug resistance, as well as personalized-precision medicine approaches to cancer therapy. In 2016, Sicklick was honored with the GIST Clinician of the Year award by The Life Raft Group, an international GIST research, patient support, education and advocacy organization. In 2018 he also received the RARE Champion of Hope in Medical Care & Treatment Award from the Global Genes-Allies in Rare Disease.

UC San Diego Health, comprising a comprehensive health system throughout San Diego County, UC San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, is one of five academic medical systems within the University of California system. It is committed to improving patient care while also researching new treatments and training tomorrow’s doctors and pharmacists. For more than 50 years, its renowned clinicians and scientists have made advances in numerous fields, including minimally invasive surgeries, personalized cancer therapy, cardiovascular treatment and surgery, transplantation and the early detection of autism. Its specialty patient care is consistently ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report.