The A Shot For Life Gauntlet is a 24-hour marathon basketball event that is meant to be loosely symbolic of the struggle that cancer patients often endure in their fight against cancer. Since 2017, thousands of players have put on the ASFL Gauntlet exclusive black and white jersey and gone up and down the floor with the cancer community on their back. The ASFL Gauntlet is open to all ages and skill levels, with intense, moderate, casual, and beginner floors all playing at once in the Mill Works.
The No Brakes Division is the newest addition to the ASFL Gauntlet. Our No Brakes players will play, almost non-stop, for a 4-hour sprint. At the completion of the 4 hours, our players will receive a completion medal. Our No Brakes players are welcome to remain at the facility for as long as they want, and they may step into the Black Ops Division in the role of an as-needed substitute.
The ASFL Black Ops Division is the traditional ASFL Gauntlet where players will play, with long break times fit in, for 24 consecutive hours. The ASFL Black Ops players will have access to our medical staff, will receive catered food, will have access to a lodging area for sleep shifts, and they will receive an “ASFL Black Ops” exclusive jersey.
Below is a written statement from the MGH Cancer Center walking through the specifics of the use of ASFL funding.
"Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive type of brain tumor and carries an exceedingly poor prognosis. Immunotherapy has the promise of eliminating cancer cells in the brain while leaving all other healthy tissues intact. T cells are the most potent mediators of the antitumor immune response, though very few of these cells have the natural capacity to recognize and eliminate cancer on their own.
T cells can be trained to recognize tumors through a genetic modification known as the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). These artificial receptors are inserted into T cells, sensitizing them against targets expressed in tumor tissue. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat certain blood cancers, where they have transformed the landscape of therapy and successfully eradicated even advanced, relapsed, and refractory disease. Our objective in the MGH Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Laboratory is to further develop this approach for solid tumors, especially aggressive cancers that arise in the brain.
Successful preclinical work on a novel CAR T cell for brain tumors (CART.BiTE), designed by Dr. Bryan Choi and Dr. Marcela Maus, was published in 2019 in the journal Nature Biotechnology. This construct is now being tested as the first ever cell therapy for patients with glioblastoma at Mass General Hospital this year in a trial spearheaded by Dr. William Curry and colleagues. The tremendous support from A Shot For Life is instrumental in enabling our group to execute studies that enhance our understanding of the immune system in the context of malignant brain tumors and provides hope that we can continue to provide meaningful, new therapies for our patients. Thanks to ASFL for leading the way and making it all possible."
The ASFL Gauntlet is open to all ages and all skill levels. Previous players have ranged in experience from professional basketball players to participants who have never played basketball before but want to go up and down the court for a great cause! 8 courts are in constant use, all featuring a different intensity level.