Research Scholar Investigates Novel Immune Target in Gastric Cancer
Over the past three years, Martina Molgora, PhD, has made the most of the opportunities that have come her way since she was awarded the Ben Feinstein Memorial Research Scholar Award in Gastric Cancer from the Gastric Cancer Foundation and American Gastroenterology Association. The grant provides $100,000 per year for three years to young scientists with innovative projects related to gastric and esophageal cancer research. Since becoming the fourth research scholar in 2023, Molgora not only made progress in her main research goal—examining the cancer-associated immune receptor TREM2—she also launched her career as a faculty member in the immuno-oncology program at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL.
The Research Scholar Award, Molgora said, “was very important for helping me establish and develop my career.” She was a post-doctoral student at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis when she secured the AGA-Gastric Cancer Foundation funding—her first major grant and an accomplishment she could point to when she interviewed for faculty positions. “This helped me move from the mentoring phase to having a faculty position with my own lab.”
Molgora’s research plan was focused around an earlier discovery that blocking or eliminating TREM2 could inhibit tumor growth. She had three main goals: to test antibodies that block TREM2 in mouse models of gastric cancer, define how modulating TREM2 affects the tumor microenvironment, and determine whether TREM2 expression could be used as a biomarker in the treatment of gastric cancer patients.
To analyze the effect of TREM2 on the tumor microenvironment, Molgora compared tissue samples from mouse models of early gastric cancer to those taken from healthy mice. Her research uncovered several insights related to the immune system, including the discovery of a specific gut microbe that may improve responsiveness to immune-boosting drugs. She is now validating her findings using single-cell RNA sequencing, a cutting-edge technique that she believes will reveal more specific details about the role of TREM2 in gastric cancer. “The power to examine individual cells provides an incredibly deep understanding of cell processes,” she said.
The first anti-TREM2 antibody that Molgora’s lab developed was not effective when tested in mouse models of gastric cancer, she said, so she is now expanding the research to include different antibodies and dosing schedules. She is also planning to test TREM2 blockage in mouse models that more closely reflect human biology. To examine the potential of TREM2 as a biomarker, she has started analyzing TREM2 expression in the tissue samples she has collected and plans to correlate that data with clinical results from gastric cancer patients.
The AGA and Gastric Cancer Foundation launched the Research Scholar Award in 2014 to fill a gap in funding for talented early-career investigators seeking to build research portfolios in gastric cancer. For Molgora, the grant provided more than just that crucial funding: She also took advantage of networking opportunities provided by AGA, including a workshop for women in gastroenterology and a career-development workshop.
“I’m so thankful for this award and the fact that it’s tailored for young investigators,” Molgora said. “It has given me the opportunity to build an independent research program. And it will help me apply for larger funding mechanisms, which will really help me develop this research even further.”
Learn more about the Ben Feinstein Memorial Research Scholar Award
