Overall Partnership Summary

This type-2 application is to strengthen and build upon the established U54 Partnership between Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), Tuskegee University (TU), and the O' Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. The Partnership, located in the heart of the Southeast, a region with a large, historically underserved, African American population, has the overall goal of attaining excellence in research focused on elimination of cancer health disparities and on reducing the cancer burden among underserved populations in the region. The partnering institutions possess unique strengths that complement each other in achieving the proposed goal through integrated research, education, and outreach. The primary objectives are to enhance productive cancer research programs, to develop a pipeline of racial/ethnic minority investigators in cancer research at MSM and TU, and to increase the level of involvement of investigators conducting research on cancer disparities at the O' Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Partnership has four Cores (Administrative, Outreach, Research Education, and Planning & Evaluation); two Full Research Projects; a Pilot Research Project; and two Shared Resources (Bioethics and Biostatistics/Bioinformatics). With these assets and activities, the Partnership will: 1) through the full projects, identify molecular mechanisms and new therapeutic targets for metastatic prostate cancer, which is present at a higher rate in African American men, and, through the pilot project, adapt the current, successful patient navigation program for racial/ethnic minority recruitment at the O' Neal Cancer Center for implementation at the MSM and Grady Hospital; 2) through the Outreach Core, apply an innovative cancer survivor care plan at MSM, TU, and the O' Neal Cancer Center by linking community- and health system-based patient navigators and advisors to improve satisfaction with care, and implement culturally appropriate community health education for cancer survivors and caregivers; 3) through the Research Education Core, employ an integrated cancer research education program that involves capacity building and linkages to undergraduate and graduate students and junior faculty, allowing them to pursue careers in cancer research; and 4) provide funding for additional Pilot Research projects. The Planning & Evaluation Core will continually assess/evaluate the outcomes of the cores, research projects, and shared resources. The Bioethics Shared Resource will promote and ensure adherence to bioethical principles and address ethical considerations in relationships between the institutions and between the institutions and communities. The Biostatistics/Bioinformatics Shared Resource will deliver statistical and bioinformatics support for all activities. Together, we will contribute to elimination of cancer health disparities.

Pilot Project: Racial Disparities in Lung Cancer Screening among a High-Risk Population at a Community Hospital and Academic Health System in the Southeastern US

MSM Co-Lead: Desiree Rivers, PhD
UAB Co-Lead: Soumya Niranjan, PhD

This pilot project will 1) Examine patient, provider, and system-level factors associated with Lung Cancer Screening (LCS) uptake among patients who were referred to screening at The Kirklin Clinic at UAB and Grady Hospital at MSM from 2015-2020. We will conduct a retrospective review of electronic medical record of adult men and women referred for LCS to determine individual sociodemographic factors, provider factors and referral sources; 2) determine the barriers and facilitators of LCS uptake using semi-structured interviews with patients recently referred for screening, healthcare providers who make referrals, and administrators who oversee lung cancer screening systems at TKC and Grady; and 3) integrate results from the quantitative and qualitative phases to inform the design of a culturally tailored, multi-level intervention to promote LCS for patients at TKC and Grady.

Full Project 1: Elucidating the Role of AAA ATPase TRIP13 in Prostate Cancer

MSM Co-Lead: Rajesh Singh, PhD
UAB Co-Lead: Sooryanarayana Varambally, PhD

To understand the different forms of Prostate Cancer classify indolent from aggressive conditions, and develop effective therapeutic strategies, it is essential to investigate the underlying complex molecular events. Using an integrative approach and multiple high throughput data sets, we nominated AAA ATPase TRIP13 as a potential oncogene in prostate cancer growth and progression. The objective of this joint full project between Morehouse School of Medicine and the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer of the University of Alabama at Birmingham is to understand the biology of TRIP13-mediated tumorigenesis and metastasis. SinceTRIP13 is an enzyme that can be inhibited by small molecules, the long-term goal of this proposal is to develop compounds that specifically inhibit TRIP13 activity.

Full Project 2: Chemotherapy-induced Immunomodulation in Colon Cancer

TU Co-Lead: Temesgen Samuel, PhD
UAB Co-Lead: Pran Datta, PhD

Fewer than 15% of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients may benefit from current immunotherapies. The mechanisms for these refractory states are not completely understood, and an immense gap remains in our knowledge of the immune factors that are involved in CRCs, especially those undergoing therapy. We propose to develop combination therapy strategies that modulate the immune microenvironment in CRCs. We aim to accomplish this by elucidating chemotherapy-inducible immunomodulation in CRCs and identifying alternative targets adaptable to personalized medicine.