Sue and Bill Gross

CIRM Funds New Therapy for Refractory and Metastatic Solid Cancers

Michael Demetriou, professor of neurology at the University of California, Irvine, has received a $1.4 million Quest Award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The funds will be used in the development of a treatment in which a patient’s immune system T cells target a tumor-associated carbohydrate toxin, to kill solid refractory cancers, which do not respond to current therapies, or have metastasized and spread to other parts of the body.

“Patients with solid cancers that are incurable and lack effective therapies will benefit through this new and potent approach that directs their immune system to kill cancer cells,” he says. The Quest Awards Program promotes the discovery of promising new stem-cell based technologies that can be translated to broad use to improve patient care.