Friends of Prentice Awards $350,000 to 2023 Grant Recipients
Six deserving projects will receive funding to conduct vital research in the areas of gene therapy for reproductive dysfunction, ovarian cancer, the intersection of IVF and sleep, health equity, and mental health.
July 11, 2023—Chicago, IL — Friends of Prentice (FOP), a non-profit organization that works with Northwestern Medicine Prentice Women’s Hospital to fund the future of women’s healthcare, today announces their annual grant recipients. These six critical research projects are focused on gene therapy for reproductive dysfunction, ovarian cancer, the intersection of IVF and sleep, health equity, and mental health. The funds given from FOP will help push this essential research forward.
"We face a critical and vast knowledge gap in the areas of health, wellness and disease progression for women. Friends of Prentice is committed to closing that gap through important research that will have a long-lasting and vital impact on women's health," said Kristen Field, Executive Director, Friends of Prentice. "These projects were chosen for their demonstrated alignment and focus areas that move forward the mission of the organization – to improve the health of women across the entire span of their lives."
The six projects chosen represent a variety of disciplines and serve a wide range of women. This year’s recipients include:
Gene therapy as a potential therapeutic option for women with single-gene mutations that cause reproductive dysfunction: Unfortunately, no treatment is available for many women with single-gene mutations that cause reproductive dysfunction. More than 140 clinical trials aim to develop new gene therapies for various diseases; however, there are no human gene therapy studies to date that focus on human reproductive tissues. Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene therapy has gained traction in the last two decades, as this modified virus does not cause disease in humans and provides an effective way of delivering a normal copy of the gene to the affected tissues. There are already three FDA approved products that utilize this technology. The goal is to assess the feasibility of AAV-mediated gene therapy in human reproductive tissues, utilizing cells discarded at the time of IVF. In addition to women with normal reproductive function, they also aim to recruit women with known gene mutations that cause reproductive illness, and test whether the gene therapy can correct disrupted molecular pathways in their cells. Besides the translational potential for women with single-gene disorders, this project may also lay the groundwork for a novel intervention modality for various women’s health issues, including but not limited to infertility, reproductive aging, polycystic ovary syndrome and contraception. “I am absolutely thrilled and deeply grateful to have been awarded this grant from Friends of Prentice, which represents a significant milestone in my academic career,” shared Dilan Gokyer, MD. “This opportunity to contribute to the field of women's health not only fills me with immense joy but also reinforces my commitment to pursuing meaningful research and making a lasting impact on the lives of women.” The principal investigators are Dilan Gokyer, MD, Fellow and Elnur Babayev, MD, MSc.
Profiling of RNA methylation in Response to Platinum Resistance in Ovarian Cancer: Among gynecological tumors, ovarian cancer (OC) still represents the leading cause of death.
Despite recent advances understanding its biology and developing new treatments,
development of resistance to platinum (in OC remains a major clinical challenge. RNA modifications have been implicated in dysregulated gene expression under physiological and pathological conditions. Previous experimental results showed that RNA modifications regulate gene expression under physiological and pathological conditions. Recently, it was found that FTO as an enzyme that regulates RNA modifications inhibited tumorigenesis and resistance to platinum in OC. Now we hypothesize that the RNA methyl transferase METTL3 plays a critical function in the response to platinum in OC. The principal investigator is Hao Huang, PhD.
Targeting MEIS2 in Platinum Resistant Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer (OC) carries the largest mortality rate within the gynecological disease. Recurrent tumors develop resistance to chemotherapy, which are fatal, Understanding the mechanisms implicated in chemoresistance will lead to find new therapeutics to overcome this clinical boundary. Cancer stem cells, which can renew themselves and generate daughter cells, have been hypothesized to be responsible for giving rise to chemoresistance and driving tumor recurrence in OC. The team identified a new oncogene, which is associated with chemoresistance and stemness features of OC cells. The gene is called Myeloid Ecotropic Insertion Site 2 (MEIS2) and plays critical roles in regulating cell proliferation and differentiation. Few studies reported that MEIS2 is deregulated in cancer, but its role in regulating chemoresistance in OC is not known. The team demonstrated that MEIS2 is significantly upregulated in platinum resistant (Pt-R) OC cells and that MEIS2 blockade inhibited stemness and re-sensitized OC cells to platinum. Here, the team hypothesized that MEIS2 is critical for maintaining stemness in Pt-R OC cells. The team will study the mechanisms by which MEIS2 induces chemoresistance and stemness of OC cells and the team will test the therapeutical effects of MEIS2 blockade in OC models, which can address a key unmet medical need for this fatal disease. The principal investigator is Yinu Wang, PhD.
The effect of sleep on in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes
Infertility is one of the largest challenges in reproductive health today: 1 in 8 couples struggle to have children. Unfortunately, costs of infertility care remain high in industrialized nations, and medical technology to help is often not available in developing countries. There are few economical and easily implemented interventions that can improve fertility. For example, weight loss often requires medical assistance and is difficult to maintain. The team’s research will explore a low-cost intervention that could affect many if shown to improve fertility: sleep. Poor sleep increases both the risk of chronic diseases and may compromise reproductive health; sleep affects hormones, ovulation, pregnancy, and the fetus, which is exposed to sleep for one third of its development. If women could optimize their likelihood of conception by learning and modifying their sleep patterns to promote higher quality sleep, this would represent a significant opportunity to improve fertility in a manner accessible to all women. “I cannot thank the generous support of Friends of Prentice enough for their support and funding of our work,” shared Eve Feinberg, MD. “Our research aim is to help solve the problem of why some embryos do not implant and develop to live birth. We think this work has the potential to help countless fertility patients be more successful in their treatment.” The principal investigators are Jessica R. Walter, MD, MSCE, Eve Feinberg, MD and Sarah Capelouto, MD.
Coping with Severe Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy
Severe nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (SNVP) is a major disruption to a pregnant person’s well-being, including extreme stress, poor quality of life, and depression. An intervention is required to supplement and support the clinical objectives of perinatal care for birthing parents who experience SNVP during pregnancy. The objective is to test the utility of the Coping with Severe Nausea and Vomiting intervention in a pilot RCT with 60 pregnant people with SNVP who will be randomized into the intervention group or the treatment as usual group. Birthing parents in the intervention will receive a five session, group therapy intervention during pregnancy that addresses key factors to reduce maternal distress. The sessions will provide training, information, and behavioral assignments tailored to these topics: 1) psychoeducation, 2) valued living, 3) distress tolerance and acceptance, 4) mindfulness, and 5) behavioral planning. Maternal depressive symptoms and SNVP will be assessed as primary outcomes. The principal investigator is Sheehan D. Fisher, Ph.D.
Preterm birth rates among infants of US-born and foreign-born Latinx women in the United States: An analysis of how self-identified Black race affects preterm birth rates
There is a significant disparity in birth outcomes among infants born to Black, Latinx, and White women, with non-Hispanic Black infants having higher infant mortality rates, preterm birth, and low birth weight2. Preterm birth rates remain a substantial health concern. The World Health Organization reports that preterm birth (PTB) represents the leading cause of death for children under the age of 5. Further exploration of the discrepant rates of preterm birth in the US with respect to different ethnic and racial subgroups is essential. Given the paucity of data on health outcomes for Black Latinx, especially comparing foreign and domestic-born women and their infants, and the substantial proportion of the population with these racial and ethnic characteristics, there is evident need for further investigation into contributing factors to define existing outcomes and inform future research. The long-term goal of our research is to utilize outcomes research to create the framework for policy and intervention that will improve discrepancies in neonatal outcomes. The overall objective of this proposal is to establish a framework that will expound upon what is known about preterm birth rates, with attention to the Black Latinx racial subgroup and maternal nativity. This application will address the specific aim to determine the relation of Black race to the PTB rates of US-born and foreign-born Latina. The principal investigator is Blair A. Simon, MD, Fellow.
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About Friends of Prentice
Since 1983, Friends of Prentice has raised over $20 million and awarded annual grants to more than 100 innovative researchers and clinical programs. Projects have involved women-focused areas such as gynecologic oncology, mental health, heart disease, disparities in access to care, diabetes, HIV, uterine and pelvic medicine, genetic biomarker research, home health care outreach and more. Recipients have applied funding toward research, education and patient care programs as they continue their quest to improve women’s healthcare across all socio-economic, racial and gender identity backgrounds.
For more information about Friends of Prentice or how to get involved or support the organization, please visit www.friendsofprentice.org
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