R01CA297582
Project Grant
Overview
Grant Description
LEVERAGING OMICS AND ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS DATA TO STUDY COLORECTAL ADENOMA GENETICS AND DRUG REPURPOSING - COLORECTAL CANCER (CRC) ARISES MOSTLY FROM PRE-EXISTING COLORECTAL ADENOMA (CRA). REMOVAL OF THESE PRECANCEROUS LESIONS SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCES CRC INCIDENCE. HOWEVER, ~30% OF CRA PATIENTS WILL DEVELOP METACHRONOUS (RECURRENT) ADENOMAS AFTER THEIR INITIAL POLYPECTOMY. YET, UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENETIC BASIS OF CRA AND RECURRENCE, AND IDENTIFICATION OF THERAPEUTIC DRUGS ARE CURRENTLY VERY LIMITED. ADDRESSING THE GAP IN GENETIC STUDIES OF CRA, WE HAVE RECENTLY ESTABLISHED GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES (GWAS) OF ~8,000 CRA CASES FROM EUROPEAN AMERICANS (EA) AND AFRICAN AMERICANS (AA) FROM THE VANDERBILT DNA BIOBANK (BIOVU). FURTHERMORE, WE HAVE RECENTLY ESTABLISHED VANDERBILT COLONOSCOPY COHORT OF CRA CASES AFTER POLYPECTOMY (N=76,664), THOUGH A LARGE-SCALE ANALYSIS OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS (EHRS) AND PATHOLOGY REPORTS. IN THIS APPLICATION, WE PROPOSE TO EXTEND OUR EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH THE FIRST LARGE GWAS OF EA AND AA LEVERAGING UNIQUE RESOURCES PRIMARILY FROM THE BIOVU, THE MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM (MGB) BIOBANK AND ALL OF US, AND CONDUCT TRANSCRIPTOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES (TWAS), METHYLOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES (MEWAS) AND PROTEOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES (PWAS) TO IDENTIFY RISK VARIANTS, DNA METHYLATIONS, GENES AND PROTEINS FOR CRA AND RECURRENCE. SPECIFIC AIMS ARE: AIM 1: CONDUCT GWAS, MEWAS, TWAS AND PWAS AMONG 25,000 CRA CASES (~9,000 RECURRENCE) AND 140,000 CONTROLS IN EA AND 6,500 CRA CASES (~2,000 RECURRENCE) AND 47,000 CONTROLS IN AA PARTICIPANTS. EXISTING DATA ON COLON OR ADENOMA TISSUE DNA METHYLATION, RNA-SEQ, AND PROTEOMICS FROM EA (N=1,538) AND FROM AA (N=465) FROM OUR PARENT STUDIES, WILL BE USED TO BUILD RACIAL-SPECIFIC PREDICTION MODELS FOR DNA METHYLATION, ALTERNATIVE SPLICING, AND ALTERNATIVE POLYADENYLATION, GENE AND PROTEIN EXPRESSION. THESE PREDICTION MODELS WILL BE APPLIED TO THE GWAS DATA TO IDENTIFY RISK DNA METHYLATIONS, GENES AND PROTEINS, BOTH OVERALL AND BY RECURRENCE OF CRA IN AA AND EA, RESPECTIVELY. WE WILL INTEGRATE FINDINGS FROM EA AND AA TO IDENTIFY RISK GENES ACROSS BOTH POPULATIONS AND THOSE CONTRIBUTING TO RACIAL DISPARITY. WE WILL ALSO PERFORM OMICS-BASED DRUG ANALYSIS TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC DRUGS FOR CRA RECURRENCE. AIM 2: IDENTIFY REPURPOSING DRUG CANDIDATES TO REDUCE CRA RECURRENCE AFTER POLYPECTOMY: COMBING VANDERBILT (N=76,664) AND MGB (N=~55,000) COLONOSCOPY COHORTS, WE HAVE IDENTIFIED ~39,400 CRA PATIENTS (~30% OF TOTAL CRA CASES AFTER POLYPECTOMY) WITH A SURVEILLANCE COLONOSCOPY AT LEAST ONE YEAR AFTER PREVIOUS POLYPECTOMY (WITH ~31,700 CRA RECURRENCE AND ~2,600 CRC). WE WILL BUILD A MACHINE LEARNING AND STATISTICAL FRAMEWORK UPON REAL-WORLD EHRS TO CREATE AND COMPARE TREATED AND CONTROL PATIENT GROUPS, AND SYSTEMATICALLY SCREEN REPURPOSABLE DRUGS TO REDUCE CRA RECURRENCE AND/OR CRC RISK. AIM 3: PERFORM FUNCTIONAL ASSAYS TO TEST THE EFFICACY OF SIX PROMISING DRUGS IN BOTH IN-VITRO AND MOUSE MODELS. GIVEN THE UNIQUE RESOURCES AND METHODOLOGICAL STRENGTHS, WE ANTICIPATE THAT THE STUDY WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF COLORECTAL POLYP SURVEILLANCE AND THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTION OF CRA/CRC.
Funding Goals
TO IDENTIFY CANCER RISKS AND RISK REDUCTION STRATEGIES, TO IDENTIFY FACTORS THAT CAUSE CANCER IN HUMANS, AND TO DISCOVER AND DEVELOP MECHANISMS FOR CANCER PREVENTION AND PREVENTIVE INTERVENTIONS IN HUMANS. RESEARCH PROGRAMS INCLUDE: (1) CHEMICAL, PHYSICAL AND MOLECULAR CARCINOGENESIS, (2) SCREENING, EARLY DETECTION AND RISK ASSESSMENT, INCLUDING BIOMARKER DISCOVERY, DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION, (3) EPIDEMIOLOGY, (4) NUTRITION AND BIOACTIVE FOOD COMPONENTS, (5) IMMUNOLOGY AND VACCINES, (6) FIELD STUDIES AND STATISTICS, (7) CANCER CHEMOPREVENTION AND INTERCEPTION, (8) PRE-CLINICAL AND CLINICAL AGENT DEVELOPMENT, (9) ORGAN SITE STUDIES AND CLINICAL TRIALS, (10) HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE AND PATIENT-CENTERED OUTCOMES, AND (11) SUPPORTIVE CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF SYMPTOMS AND TOXICITIES. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM: TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SBIR PROGRAM, TO STIMULATE TECHNICAL INNOVATION, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FUNDING, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION IN INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP BY WOMEN AND SOCIALLY/ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED PERSONS. SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM: TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FUNDING, AND FOSTER PARTICIPATION IN INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP BY WOMEN AND SOCIALLY/ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED PERSONS.
Grant Program (CFDA)
Awarding / Funding Agency
Place of Performance
Nashville,
Tennessee
37203
United States
Geographic Scope
Single Zip Code
Related Opportunity
Vanderbilt University Medical Center was awarded
Genetics Drug Repurposing Colorectal Adenoma: GWAS Drug Analysis
Project Grant R01CA297582
worth $4,174,595
from National Cancer Institute in September 2025 with work to be completed primarily in Nashville Tennessee United States.
The grant
has a duration of 4 years and
was awarded through assistance program 93.393 Cancer Cause and Prevention Research.
The Project Grant was awarded through grant opportunity NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed).
Status
(Ongoing)
Last Modified 9/24/25
Period of Performance
9/10/25
Start Date
8/31/29
End Date
Funding Split
$4.2M
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$4.2M
Total Obligated
Activity Timeline
Additional Detail
Award ID FAIN
R01CA297582
SAI Number
R01CA297582-3555701924
Award ID URI
SAI UNAVAILABLE
Awardee Classifications
Nonprofit With 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other Than An Institution Of Higher Education)
Awarding Office
75NC00 NIH National Cancer Institute
Funding Office
75NC00 NIH National Cancer Institute
Awardee UEI
GYLUH9UXHDX5
Awardee CAGE
7HUA5
Performance District
TN-05
Senators
Marsha Blackburn
Bill Hagerty
Bill Hagerty
Modified: 9/24/25