UC Cancer Center leads COVID-19 studies

UC joins national consortium, collecting data on cancer patients with COVID-19, and studies how immunotherapy could impact outcomes

NEWS RELEASE: Katie Pence, Assistant Director, Media Relations 

CINCINNATI, OH  (May 14, 2020) – The University of Cincinnati Cancer Center is joining the international hunt to uncover knowledge about the coronavirus.

UC is joining a consortium of 100 cancer centers and other organizations to collect data about patients with cancer who have been infected with COVID-19 and to make available information about this especially vulnerable population.

Dr. Trisha Wise-Draper, associate professor of medicine at the UC College of Medicine, UC Health oncologist and medical director of the UC Cancer Center’s Clinical Trials Office, is overseeing the local arm of the study, called CCC19.

Additionally, she and researchers at the UC Cancer Center are participating in another study, using blood samples from patients with cancer taken from the UC COVID-19 biorepository, to examine how certain therapies may impact outcomes for patients with COVID-19 and those with both cancer and the coronavirus.

“As part of our study, COVID-ICI, we are examining how immune checkpoint inhibitors, drugs that allow immune cells to respond more strongly, in combination with other treatments, like chemotherapy or radiation, affect the immune cells of COVID-19 patients and patients with both COVID-19 and cancer,” said Wise-Draper. “We think that using these drugs in cancer patients with the virus will lead to an increased inflammatory immune response in comparison to those not receiving these drugs, and that maybe using drugs like metformin, an anti-diabetic drug that has been studied for use in certain cancer populations, in combination might be a better option.”

Wise-Draper says the study may help determine treatment plans for patients with cancer and uncover new alternatives for COVID-19 patients.

Click here to read more on both studies in U.C. News