Johns Hopkins All Children’s basic science researchers Ranjan Perera, Ph.D., and Masanobu Komatsu, Ph.D., each recently received grants from the Florida Department of Health Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program.

Each grant provides about $600,000 over three years to support “Discovery Science,” defined as fundamental theoretical or experimental investigative research to advance knowledge of cancer at the molecular, cellular and organismic levels, as well as the discovery and development of new drugs or therapies.

Perera’s lab is focusing on biomarkers and potential therapeutics for prostate cancer. He is director of the Center for RNA Biology at Johns Hopkins All Children's in St. Petersburg, Florida, a senior scientist in the hospital’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute and an associate professor of oncology in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

“We are delighted to receive this grant and grateful to the Florida Department of Health because, we seek to discover better ways for early detection and treat prostate cancer in men,” Perera says. “Despite significant advances in therapy, improvements in prostate cancer-related mortality have been marginal at best; mortality has even increased among some selected American population subgroups. Although still widely used, prostate-specific antigen testing has poor cancer specificity, and it does not differentiate indolent from aggressive disease, resulting in large numbers of unnecessary biopsies and overtreatment. In our study, we will focus on improving the quality of life of men by improving decision-making during and after prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment.”

Komatsu’s lab is pursuing a novel therapeutic strategy to increase the power of a patient's immunity against cancer, which may have broad application among adult and childhood cancers. Komatsu is the co-director of the Tumor Microenvironment, Immuno-Oncology and Adoptive Cell Therapy (Time-to-Act) Program, a senior scientist in the Johns Hopkins All Children's Department of Surgery and the Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute and an associate professor in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He has funding from the National Cancer Institute and the Department of Defense for related research projects. 

“A clinically translatable treatment strategy to produce ‘immune hot’ environment in malignant tumors could revolutionize cancer patients’ care,” says Komatsu, who has received Bankhead-Coley funding for four previous projects. “We believe we have found a novel therapeutic target to achieve this goal. This grant will play an important role as we test the feasibility, efficacy, and mechanism of action of this treatment to boost patients’ immunity against cancers.”

Both Perera and Komatsu have a secondary affiliation with the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research. 

Named for former state legislators William B. “Bill” Bankhead, Jr., and David Coley, the program was established by the Florida legislature in 2006 and is administered by the Department of Health. It awards annual cancer research grants through a peer-reviewed, competitive process. Past grant awardees include researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic, the University of Florida and University of Miami.