“We began this journey after an unthinkable loss. Thanks to the partnership of so many who have joined us, Basser has grown into a leader in scientific discovery, providing vital treatment, and raising awareness for BRCA-effected families everywhere. We are committed to a world where powerful new tools of interception make the impact of these mutations a distant memory.”

- Mindy and Jon Gray

Founders, Basser Center

Leveraging the Immune System to Fight Cancer

Work continues on Basser’s pioneering study of a new cancer vaccine for individuals with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, led by Susan Domchek, MD. Enrollment has closed for the latest cohort, which included 28 healthy BRCA mutation carriers with no cancer history and 16 BRCA mutation carriers with a prior cancer diagnosis.

Dr. Domchek and her team will monitor participants over the next two years to assess safety and determine whether their T cells are successfully recognizing telomerase—one of the vaccine’s targets—which plays a role in 95% of human cancers.

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Studying the Origins of BRCA-Related Breast Cancer

Emerging research by Carman Li, PhD, a new Basser investigator, suggests that cancer predisposition cannot be fully explained by the prevailing “two-hit” hypothesis, which posits that two “bad copies” of a gene are necessary for cancer to develop. She has developed the first mouse models genetically engineered with a single mutated copy of the BRCA gene and is studying epigenetic changes to better understand cancer risk and progression. Though still in its early stages, this research has the potential to improve risk stratification for mutation carriers and identify new targets for cancer interception.

Pancreatic Cancer Interception

Cancer interception aims to eliminate early “pre-malignant” lesions before they develop into full-blown cancer. This approach may be especially important for individuals who face an increased risk of BRCA-related pancreatic cancer—a disease for which early detection methods are currently lacking.

With support from the Becker Family, Robert H. Vonderheide, MD DPhil and Ben Stanger, MD, PhD are examining the oncogene KRAS, the root acquired cause of most cases of pancreatic cancer, as a potential method for interception. Early results in the laboratory are promising, and a clinical trial has been designed.

New Collaborative Interception Initiative

The Basser Immune-Interception Initiative is a transformative new approach that unites experts in cancer biology, immunology, and RNA therapeutics from the Perelman School of Medicine, Abramson Cancer Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, and the Penn Institute for RNA Innovation. Led by Christopher Hunter, PhD at the School of Veterinary Medicine, the goal is to generate and test therapies designed to elicit immune responses specifically against early tumor-associated antigens. It will provide a platform for development, advancing the most promising basic science research findings into a preclinical screening pipeline, with the end goal of developing new, personalized cancer interception strategies for clinical trials.

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Improving Ovarian Cancer Early Detection

Prior research by Ronny Drapkin, MD, PhD identified the protein ORF1p as a potential biomarker for high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Building on this discovery, Dr. Drapkin and his team have developed an ultrasensitive assay capable of detecting minute amounts of ORF1p in the blood and are exploring its potential as a vaccine target.

Working in collaboration with Victor E. Velculescu, MD, PhD, of Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Dr. Drapkin is also working to enhance early detection through AI-driven liquid biopsies. This approach combines AI with two established protein biomarkers, CA-125 and HE4. These research efforts represent a significant step toward developing a reliable screening tool for ovarian cancer, ultimately saving countless lives.