Esophagogastric Cancer

ReMission Foundation, with the support of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is pleased to support Yelena Y. Janjigian MD, Medical Oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and her esophagogastric (esophagus and stomach) cancer research. Dr. Yelena Y. Janjigian is a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who specializes in the treatment of malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract, including esophagus and stomach cancers. Her research focuses on development of new treatments for patients with esophagus and stomach cancers. Dr. Janjigian has special interest in finding the best treatments for persons with cancer based on the molecular characteristics of their tumor specimens.

Currently, Dr. Janjigian and her fellow investigators are conducting game-changing research to determine why esophagogastric cancers become resistant to treatment and to develop new laboratory approaches to study this devastating disease. In support of Dr. Janjigian efforts, ReMission Foundation is supporting specfic clinical trials focused on immunotherapy for gastric cancer patients. Rather than targeting a tumor with chemotherapy and radiation, immunotherapy harnesses the immune system, and empowers it to seek out and destroy cancer cells. One of the most promising forms of immunotherapy is checkpoint inhibitors—these drugs release the breaks on the immune systems, which, in turn, stimulates a patient’s T cells to attack and kill cancer.

Dr. Janjigian strongly believes this combined approach will save lives, and eventually, change the landscape of cancer care as we know it. This trial is also one of the first studies designed to prove the efficacy of ctDNA and move the needle on how it can be used. Funding is critical to move forward with this proposed study.

Dr. Janjigian anticipates this trial will cost $1.2 million. She has secured $400,000 in funding thus far and ReMission Foundation is helping raise funds to support her efforts. To learn more about Dr. Janjigian and her work in esophagogastric cancer prevention, please visit Yelena Y. Janjigian