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Dr.Goel's 2010 ASCO Award - Reovirus Colorectal Research

http://www.asco.org/ASCOv2/Meetings/ASCO+Annual+Meeting/2010+ASCO+Daily+News/Monday,+June+7/Grants+and+Awards/Dr.+Sanjay+Goel+Receives+2010+Advanced+Clinical+Research+Award+in+Colorectal+Cancer

More on Dr Sanjay Goels's ASCO award from the ASCO site. Interesting to see Dr Goel dedicate his near term future work to studying the use of Reovirus after he was the PI of the Montefiore Phase I systemic Reovirus monotherapy trial back several years ago. Note the highlighted commments from Dr Goel.


Dr. Sanjay Goel Receives 2010 Advanced Clinical Research Award in Colorectal Cancer

The Advanced Clinical Research Award (ACRA) in Colorectal Cancer is designed to fund investigators who are committed to clinical cancer research and who wish to conduct original research not currently funded. This year, The ASCO Cancer Foundation ® is proud to present the 2010 ACRA in Colorectal Cancer supported by Genentech Biooncology™ to Sanjay Goel, MD, MS, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefi ore Medical Center. The $450,000 grant will be awarded over 3 years to Dr. Goel and his research team as they embark on his project, “A Novel Pharmacogenomic-based Therapeutic Approach for Patients with K-ras–mutant Metastatic Colorectal Cancer (mCRC) Using an Oncolytic Reovirus.”
Dr. Goel, originally from Bangalore, India, received his medical degree from the Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. As an internal medicine resident in New York, he actively managed patients with cancer, and that was when he decided to choose the field of oncology. “I decided to pursue this subspecialty for two reasons: it allows me to take care of the entire patient, which requires both internal medicine and oncology skills, and it offers tremendous opportunities for research that can truly make a difference in patients’ lives,” Dr. Goel explained in an interview with ASCO Daily News.

With help from the funding he will receive from the ACRA in Colorectal Cancer, Dr. Goel plans to combine his passion for clinical research with his longstanding desire to help the 50,000 patients who die as a result of colorectal cancer each year, specifically those patients with K-ras–mutated metastatic disease. He also plans to study other potential biomarkers of drug activity and continue with more in vitro and in vivo studies on the potential use of this combination and their mechanistic basis of synergy.

Currently, the most common treatment option for colorectal cancer involves front-line FOLFOX/bevacizumab therapy followed by irinotecan (without or with 5-FU, as in FOLFIRI) or irinotecan plus the anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibodies cetuximab or panitumumab. However, Dr. Goel noted that these antibodies are ineffective for the 40% of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer whose disease is K-ras mutated, which significantly limits the therapeutic options for these patients. He believes the lack of treatment options that exist for this patient group has highlighted an urgent, unmet medical need to develop novel therapies in this setting.

“The limited therapeutic options these patients have and my primary interest in drug development — particularly in colorectal cancer — prompted my interest in this topic,” explained Dr. Goel. “Currently this group of patients is an ‘orphan group’ with limited therapeutic options after two lines of therapy.” For these patients and for this disease, he believes that any improvement or expansion of treatment options “will lead to significant benefit.”

Dr. Goel’s research is, in part, rooted in uncovering the anticancer activity of the combination of reovirus plus irinotecan. Dr. Goel and his colleagues at Albert Einstein have studied a panel of CRC cell lines and observed synergistic anti-cancer effect. “Reovirus serotype-3 Dearing strain is a doublestranded RNA virus that selectively replicates in, and is cytopathic to, K-ras–activated cancer cells,” he told ASCO Daily News. “Community- acquired reovirus infection is generally mild with flu-like gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms,” Dr. Goel noted.

According to Dr. Goel, investigators have identified in vitro activity of the reovirus in K-ras mutant cancer cell lines, adding that the “strong in vivo activity in animal models, its human safety data, and the urgent need for novel therapies in this setting represents a strong rationale to develop reovirus for this indication.” He is eager to determine whether the combination of reovirus with irinotecan is clinically valid.

As Dr. Goel moves forward in his career and with his investigations, he remains enthusiastic about his current interests and future clinical and translational research endeavors. He also plans to continue to combine his passion for patients and their wellbeing with his desire to conduct research that can have a lasting effect on their lives. “Good clinical care forms the basis for clinical research, and I will continue to promote good bedside and clinical care combined with clinical research,” he said.

Dr. Goel told ASCO Daily News he would also like to thank Sridhar Mani, MD, and John Mariadason, PhD, who have helped him throughout his career and guided him to this point: “I have learned and gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and insight from them,” he added.