$6.6M in expenses

In 2024, over 3,200 adults and children participated in pedal the cause, supported by 700 volunteers, who together raised over $5.2 million to fund cancer research. Over the past 15 years, pedal the cause has cumulatively donated $51 million supporting 255 adult and pediatric cancer research projects. Major breakthroughs made possible by pedal the cause funds include the development of DNA and peptide vaccines for multiple cancer types, cancer googles to help surgeons see cancer cells, immunotherapy harnessing our body's 'natural killer' cells and cutting-edge research in the understanding of cancer STEM-cells. (continued on schedule o)pedal the cause funds have been instrumental in obtaining spore (specialized programs of research excellence) grants in leukemia and pancreatic cancer, which lead a national group of experts in collaborative research. Pedal the cause funded clinical trials are a key component of the robust clinical trial program at siteman cancer center, which ranks as the largest cancer clinical trials program in the midwest and third largest in the country. For every $1 pedal the cause donates to cancer research, researchers have successfully attracted significant additional external funding to further their research, averaging $14 for every $1 initial award.significant 2024 external funding included:brain cancermilan g. Chheda, MD received a team science award in the amount of $800,000 in 2020 and 2021 for a project entitled, "washington university glioblastoma team science: an integrated and collaborative approach to develop new therapies for glioblastoma". The purpose of this proposal was to develop a collaborative team to apply for a large grant from the national cancer institute (nci), called a specialized program of research excellence (spore) grant. Spore grants build on laboratory research findings, and all projects have a "human endpoint"-- something that will be tested in humans or use human samples. DR. Chheda and his team obtained data to initiate a clinical trial using laser ablation-- using a laser to remove tumors and other lesions-- and immunotherapy; they have tested the safety of zika virus in treating cancer in non-human primates, with a path now to go into humans; and they have also obtained data that suggests patients treated based on their circadian rhythms survive longer. DR. Chheda and his team were able to leverage preliminary data garnered through the sip rda project to obtain the three r01 awards, including one from erik herzog, PHD and josh rubin, MD, PHD in january 2024 (r01 ns134885). $2.1m in national funds received in 2024. Breast cancerin 2022, sip rda funded project from aimilia gastounioti, PHD aimed at discovering new ways to bring more effective, personalized breast cancer risk models to women using artificial intelligence (AI) and mammograms. The goal of the project was to pilot the use of AI tools in the analysis of mammograms over time and provide patients with a risk score. The project was successful in discovering new ways of identifying disease using a women's available history of mammographic imaging and using changes over time to predict disease risk. This project has already led to a susan g. Komen career catalyst research award in october of 2023 and an nci r01 award in september of 2024 (r01 ca286120). $3.2m in national funds received in 2024. Head and neck cancerben major, PHD and paul zolkind, MD were awarded a $300,000 new clinical trial award in january 2023 entitled, "early phase i window of opportunity trial of pyrimethamine as an inhibitor of nrf2 in HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma". In preclinical studies, DR. Major and DR. Zolkind have found that suppressing DHFR (an enzyme that helps cancer cells grow) and nrf2 (a protein that helps protect cells from damage) sensitizes tumors to radiation therapy. What DR. Major and DR. Zolkind have observed is that administering pyrimethamine dramatically inhibits the function of the DHFR enzyme. This is the first report in humans that pyrimethamine (an anti-parasitic medication) inhibits DHFR in cancer. In addition, it's been well tolerated with minimal toxicity. No patients have needed to stop the drug early or delay surgery as a result of treatment. If this trial is successful in demonstrating a robust molecular response, the next phase would be to evaluate the efficacy of pyrimethamine administered alongside radiation therapy as a sensitizing agent in a phase ii clinical trial. This has resulted in r01 funding from the nci in december 2024 (r01 ca290809). $1.8m in national funds received in 2024. Prostate cancersip rda funding supported hanwen zhang, PHD in his project to create a new protein blocker (known as a psma inhibitor) in the form of a radiotracer to help diagnose and treat metastatic prostate cancer. Radiotracers are compounds that can attach to prostate cancer cells to make them 1) easier to see via pet imaging during diagnosis or treatment follow-up, and 2) more susceptible to ablate cancer cells with minimum damage on adjacent organs. Physicians have demonstrated a need for a more effective method to clearly identify the exact location and intensity of the prostate cancer cells. DR. Zhang's project will allow the physician treat what they see in prostate cancer patients. DR. Zhang and his team have shown that the compounds they are utilizing for this purpose (227th-lumi-psmaurea and 89zr-lumi-psmaurea) work well in animal models and their results will be published this year. The plan this year is to test whether these compounds are safe to use in healthy mice, at which point they will apply for FDA approval to move towards in-human prostate cancer trials within the next two years. This project has already led to an nci r01 award in september of 2024 to expand this work into the field of neuroblastoma (r01 ca285959), a very common form of pediatric cancer that is difficult to treat. $3.0m in national funds received in 2024.