Weill Cornell Medicine announced that a new collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to enhance gastroesophageal cancer care in patients who do not respond to standard treatment has received a 3-year grant from Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) as part of the SU2C–Torrey Coast Foundation Gastroesophageal Cancer Dream Team Collective. Although gastrointestinal cancer accounts for about 33% of all cancer-related deaths across the world, 70% of patients with gastroesophageal cancer do not respond to treatment—representing a critical need to develop novel therapies in this patient population. Prior research has shown that many patients with the disease experience chromosomal instability that leads to the gain or loss of chromosome segments, lower intratumoral T-cell infiltration, worse response rates to immune checkpoint inhibitors, and poorer survival. Researchers at the institutions will use the funding from the new grant to investigate mechanisms of immune evasion and suppression related to chromosomal instability in gastroesophageal cancer using whole-genome sequencing of the tumors. They plan to identify immune system targets and potential new therapeutic combinations in patients with HER2-negative and HER2-positive gastroesophageal cancer, as well as launch a new clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of the treatment strategies. “The [SU2C] opportunity … highlights being able to leverage larger data sets and … having larger clinical trials. We have access to a lot more biomarker data, and that helps drive the next generation of studies and ideas,” concluded Yelena Janjigian, MD, Chief of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.