The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) received more than $3.19 million in new academic research awards as part of the latest $68 million funding round announced on February 19 by the Cancer Research Prevention Institute of Texas (CPRIT). The state agency, which focuses on the fight against cancer, has now awarded $163.6 million to UT Health San Antonio since 2010.
Understanding obesity’s role in increasing liver cancer risk
Masahiro Morita, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine and a researcher with the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at UT Health San Antonio, received a $900,000 individual investigator award from CPRIT to study how obesity increases the risk of liver cancer by investigating the mechanisms by which excess nutrients lead to fatty liver and subsequently liver cancer.
“This understanding could lead to novel strategies for early detection, prevention and treatment of liver cancer, ultimately reducing the burden of obesity-associated cancer and improving patient outcomes,” Morita said. “Our team, which includes co-investigators Sakie Katsumura, DDS, PhD, assistant professor of molecular medicine, and Francisco Cigarroa, MD, senior executive vice president for health affairs and health system at UT Health San Antonio, believes that our findings will be particularly significant in regions like South Texas, where the incidence of liver cancer among obese individuals is notably high and could provide a foundation for targeted therapeutic interventions.”
Advancing the fight against leukemia
A $900,000 individual investigator award from CPRIT to Mingjiang Xu, PhD, professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine in the health science center’s Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine, and distinguished chair in oncology at Mays Cancer Center at UT Health Science Center San Antonio, will support his research into identifying the role of TET2 gene mutations to develop future therapies targeting TET2-mutated myeloid malignancies.
”Along our investigation, we will identify potential specific therapeutic targets for the eradication of TET2-mutated cells,” Xu said. “Success of the proposed studies will fill a critical knowledge gap on how TET2 mutation leads to adult myeloid malignancies and clonal hematopoiesis and lay a solid foundation for future precision therapy developments targeting TET2-mutated myeloid malignancies and normal aged individuals.”
Clinical trial to offer hope for breast cancer patients
David Gius, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, received CPRIT’s individual investigator research award for clinical trials in the amount of $1,390,420 to fund a four-year, phase 2 clinical trial for women with estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer.
Gius, an assistant dean of research in the university’s Long School of Medicine, is a noted breast cancer and radiation oncologist and an investigator with both the Mays Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Central and South Texas, and the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies.
“Our goal is to study a novel therapeutic option for women with ER+ tumors, by chemically replacing manganese superoxide dismutase, a mitochondrial superoxide enzyme, activity with a new therapeutic,” Gius shared. “Finally, we will use PET-FES, a very sensitive and specific imaging modality, to determine treatment response. In this way, each woman on this trial acts as their own control by taking scans before therapy and again after four months. This clinical trial is of significant clinical importance since this population of women has limited treatment options.”
Serving South Texas, having a global impact
“Advancing research to find cures for cancers, particularly those that disproportionately affect the populations of San Antonio and South Texas, is not only our mission, it is the passion that fuels our daily work to make lives better,” said Robert A. Hromas, MD, FACP, dean of the Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio.
“I am excited that CPRIT continues to invest in cancer research in South Texas. This investment will allow us to continue to build on the Mays Cancer Center’s legacy of excellence and to explore new approaches in cancer care that will benefit San Antonio and beyond,” said Lei Zheng, MD, PhD, executive director of the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio and a world-renowned expert in pancreatic cancer.
Manzoor Bhat, PhD, MS, vice dean for research and distinguished chair in neurosciences at the university’s Long School of Medicine, added, “Our investigators are making groundbreaking discoveries that extend beyond South Texas and have a global impact on advancing scientific knowledge, which will lead to developing novel solutions for human diseases that currently have no cures. These new CPRIT awards will undoubtedly advance cancer therapeutics leading to cures in the future.”
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is a world-class research university that was recently awarded the prestigious Research 1 (R1) designation by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in their 2025 Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education. This designation firmly establishes UT Health San Antonio among the nation’s elite research universities, ranking it in the top 4.7% of U.S. institutions and underscores its prominent role in groundbreaking biomedical research and advancing medical education.