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What your gift means to the UCSF Center for Neuroendocrine Tumors.

Your gift to the UCSF Center for Neuroendocrine Tumors with help leverage UCSF’s strength in translational and precision medicine to advance the care of neuroendocrine tumors of all types.  The incidence of NET of all types has increased 5X over the past 30 years. The Center’s comprehensive approach integrates world-class clinical care, innovative research, prevention, and education and training of future professionals to accelerate the pace of discovery for the benefit of patients and families with neuroendocrine cancers.

Thank you for considering a gift to UCSF’s Center for Neuroendocrine Tumors. Gifts at every level are valuable, and together, make our work towards ending NETs possible. During our initial five-year launch period, your partnership is especially critical to realizing the full breadth of work we aspire to in order to achieve the greatest results possible for our patients.

Gift Opportunities

Annual and one-time gifts - Gifts at every level, large and small, are the cornerstone of support for the UCSF Center for Neuroendocrine Tumors. The program would not exist without the generosity of our donors who provide core funding for the Center. Annual gifts are particularly valuable because they provide our Co-Directors with immediate and flexible dollars, allowing them to fill gaps in funding and adjust to new opportunities.

Partnership Opportunities/Directed Gifts - Donors interested in making major investments may choose to partner with the UCSF Center for Neuroendocrine Tumors to direct their support to a targeted area of interest. Below are examples of the impact of gifts in each of our key areas: Research, Clinical Care, Prevention, and/or Education.

  • Clinical Care:
    • A gift of $50,000 provides genetic counseling support to field up to 200 counseling sessions each year for patients and their family members at risk for MEN1 and other hereditary cancer syndromes associated with NETs
    • A gift of $100,000 per year supports one Clinical Research Coordinator to execute, manage, and coordinate research studies and protocols related to NET-specific treatments for patients.
  • Research:
    • A gift of $75,000 will fund the collection of biomarker samples for one year.
    • A gift of $100,000 will support one postdoctoral researcher or clinical research fellow dedicated to studying NETs for one year.
    • A gift of $200,000 will fund two NET Challenge Initiative grants to support innovative research projects focused on key NET priority areas.
       
  • Education/Training:
    • A gift of $100,000 funds one medical fellowship for one year to initiate training for a physician interested in NETs.

For more information about the UCSF Center for Neuroendocrine Tumors and giving opportunities, please contact:

Dawn Mitchell
Associate Director of Development
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
415-502-3417
[email protected]

 

June 2017, Dr. Emily Bergsland received the Ernest H. Rosenbaum, M.D., Commitment to Patient Care Award for her long-standing dedication to her patients and ongoing efforts to improve care for people with neuroendocrine tumors. The award recognizes clinicians who are deeply committed to the highest quality patient care.

 

In December 2016, Dr. Thomas Hope received the first NETRF/ERF Nuclear Medicine Pilot Research Grant. The Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation (NETRF) established the grant to explore innovations in nuclear medicine focused on diagnosis and treatment. The Education and Research Foundation for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (ERF) solicited proposals and convened the scientific review panel to select the recipient. Hope’s project is titled “Intra-Arterial Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (I-A PRRT) using 90Y DOTA-TOC.” The primary goals are to evaluate possible liver, bone marrow and kidney toxicity after hepatic arterial injection and to evaluate imaging tumor response three months after treatment. Dr. Hope’s principal co-investigators are Dr. Emily Bergsland and Dr. Nicholas Fidelman.

 

In 2016, the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation recognized Dr. Eric Nakakura for his projected titled “Development of a Mouse Model of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Cancer.” His xenograft mouse model will be useful in helping develop and test potential new therapies for pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

 

In 2016, the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation named Dr. Michael Germanthe NETRF Petersen Investigator for his project titled, “Treating Neuroendocrine Tumors via Synthetic Lethality.” His research aims to analyze how certain pathways interact to control neuroendocrine cell survival and death, and to evaluate synthetic lethal interactions—a gene therapy targeting cancer cells—in a patient-derived xenograft tumor model of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

 

What is PRRT?

PRRT (177Lu-DOTATATE) is currently available at UCSF.

For evaluation, please request an appointment.

PRRT stands for Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy.  Peptide refers to a small molecule that is very similar to the naturally occurring hormone somatostatin.  We call it a somatostatin analog, meaning that it is similar but not identical to somatostatin.  There are a number of somatostatin analogs that are use in patients with neuroendocrine tumors including octreotide, sandostatin, lanreotide.  These peptides bind to the somatostatin receptor that is expressed on the majority of neuroendocrine tumor cells. 

 

When binding to these receptors the peptide is brought into the tumor cell and stays there.  Because neuroendocrine tumor cells are one of the few cells in the body that express somatostatin receptors, we are able to target our peptide to the tumor cells using the receptor.  Radionuclide refers to the radiation that we attach to the peptide. 

 

There are different types of radiation that we can use, but in PRRT all the radiation given off is the type that can be used to kill cells.  Therapy refers to the idea that we are using peptides to target the receptors and bring the radionuclide into the tumor cells in order to treat the cells.  That is PRRT.

 

 

Published guidelines for treatment of NETs

UCSF Drs. Eric Nakakura and Emily Bergsland discuss carcinoid syndrome on ITV

 June 20, 2016

 

Dr. Emily Bergsland - NET Primer

January 24, 2016

 

The Patient & Family Neuroendocrine Tumor (NET) 2016 Conference

January 2016, Mission Bay Conference Center

Hosted by the HDFCCC in cooperation with NorCal CarciNET, NET Research Foundation, and Stanford University Medical Center