UC Irvine Giving Day 2025

When you give to the Anti-Cancer Challenge, you support research at the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. You provide physician-scientists with the resources to pursue groundbreaking projects with the potential to improve the lives of cancer patients in Orange County and beyond.

One such project is Stopgap, a Phase 2 clinical trial led by UCI Health oncologists Dr. Maheswari Senthil and Dr. Farshid Dayyani. Their innovative trial addresses a pressing need for effective treatments against gastric carcinomatosis – a stage of stomach cancer in which the disease has spread to the abdominal cavity, resulting in grim survival prognoses.

“Stomach cancer is the fourth-leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide,” Senthil says. “Once it reaches the advanced stages, patients often have a survival rate of little more than six months.”

Stopgap employs a three-pronged approach aimed at enhancing the efficacy of conventional treatments including direct infusion of chemotherapy into the abdominal cavity. This technique allows higher doses of the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel to be administered directly into the affected area while patients simultaneously receive intravenous chemotherapy.

“By combining these methods, we hope to improve outcomes for patients who have already undergone standard chemotherapy,” Dayyani explains. “The goal is to provide a more aggressive treatment option that targets cancer cells where they reside.”

Participants in the trial also undergo cytoreduction surgery to remove visible cancerous tissue, followed by hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy to eradicate any remaining microscopic cancer cells. This comprehensive approach is designed to boost survival rates and optimize the quality of life for patients battling advanced stomach cancer.

Since the launch of the Stopgap trial in 2021, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, with participants seeking out this innovative treatment from beyond the local region. Encouraged by these initial results, Senthil and Dayyani are now preparing to expand their research across 30 institutions nationwide, including Mayo Clinic and Yale University. This larger initiative is set to kick off in 2025, with hopes of significantly advancing the treatment landscape for gastric cancer.

As the trial progresses, both doctors emphasize the need for continued philanthropic efforts to fuel cancer research. “We still have many research questions to answer,” Senthil states. “Identifying which patients respond best to our treatments is crucial. The path forward requires sustained support from the community.”

Your gift to the Anti-Cancer Challenge today directly supports UC Irvine investigators such as Senthil and Dayyani to continue to make unprecedented progress in the battle against cancer. Give to make an impact and invest in a better future for cancer patients and their loved ones.