Project Grant R21CA309013

The National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute awarded $421,825 to The General Hospital Corporation (Massachusetts General Hospital) on September 1, 2026, under the Cancer Treatment Research program (CFDA 93.395) to develop an improved fibrin-targeted radiopharmaceutical for gastric cancer treatment.

The project addresses advanced gastric cancer, for which chemotherapy remains the standard treatment but nearly all patients eventually relapse or experience disease progression. The funded work develops radioligand therapy using fibrin-targeting peptides, exploiting the observation that fibrin accumulates in solid tumors including primary and metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma but is absent in healthy tissues. Preliminary work demonstrated that a fibrin-targeted 64Cu-labeled PET probe detected 53 primary and metastatic gastric cancer lesions in patients and that a 90Y-labeled variant successfully treated mouse models. The award supports refinement of the PET probe to address rapid washout and low uptake observed in initial studies, aiming to improve imaging and therapeutic efficacy.

Work is performed in Charlestown, Massachusetts, with a period of performance from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2028. Massachusetts General Hospital's Research Management Division, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital and NIH-dominant research performer, serves as the recipient. The project grant is a Project Grant assistance type.