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Use the filters below to search for research projects. For the fillable fields, you can type in any portion of a search string.
Use the filters below to search for research projects. For the fillable fields, you can type in any portion of a search string.
Cancer cells make chemicals that attract blood vessels. This process is known as angiogenesis. Drugs that inhibit angiogenesis are already being used to treat lung cancer patients. Unfortunately, not all patients respond to angiogenesis inhibitors. Dr. John Heymach is studying what determines whether a patient will respond.
Computed tomography (CT) has a high false-positive rate. Less than 5% of people with nodules found through CT actually have lung cancer. Cells from benign nodules differ from malignant ones in two ways: they have a normal number of chromosomes and they make the same proteins as normal lung cells. Dr. York Miller is taking advantage of these differences. His team is developing a sputum-based test to determine whether a nodule is malignant or benign. The test will help decide whether the nodule requires follow-up.
Biomarker-based tests that complement CT will make it easier to detect lung cancer early. These tests should also be useful for both high-risk (current and former smokers) and low-risk (never-smokers) populations. Dr. Suzanne Miyamoto and her team are studying different protein, fat, and sugar molecules made by lung cancer cells. These different molecules can also be found in the blood of lung cancer patients. Their ultimate goal is to develop a blood test for the early detection of lung cancer.
CT scans often detect the presence of a lung nodule. Most of these nodules are benign. Dr. Edward Patz and his colleagues have discovered 25 auto-antibodies (protein molecules) found in the blood of non-small cell lung cancer patients. They are developing a simple, blood-based test to confirm these findings in larger groups of these patients.
Pemetrexed is a chemotherapy drug commonly used for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. The drug blocks two proteins called DHFR and TS that cancer cells need to grow. Not all patients respond to pemetrexed. Dr. Alexander Whitehead is studying how changes in the DHFR and TS genes predict response of non-small cell lung cancer patients to pemetrexed.
Lung cancer cells produce different types of proteins and RNA molecules that circulate in the blood. Dr. Steven Dubinett and his team have discovered 17 unique miRNAs in the blood of lung cancer patients and other high-risk individuals, such as smokers. Blood of healthy and low-risk people do not have these miRNAs. They are developing an miRNA-based blood test to predict which high-risk individual might develop lung cancer.
Never-smokers with lung cancer represent 15% of all lung cancer patients. However, never-smokers do not undergo computed tomography (CT) for screening. Dr. Samir Hanash and his team are identifying biomarkers in the blood of low-risk people. Their ultimate aim is to develop a blood test to screen never-smokers.
The Initiative is developing a panel of blood-based biomarkers that will improve the reliability of different imaging approaches. It is also exploring markers that will predict the recurrence of lung cancer.
Dr. Adusumilli is studying patients who underwent surgery for early-stage lung cancer but whose lung cancer returned because of a condition in which the cancer extends to the pleural membrane covering the lung cancer. Using genetic engineering, Dr. Adusumilli is modifying the patient’s own immune cells in a way that may not only eliminate the spread of tumor cells to the pleura but may also treat the spread of the cancer by tumors too small to be detected.
Radiation therapy is used for the treatment of lung cancer. Sometimes, the cancer does not respond to radiation. Dr. An is developing new drugs to make lung cancer cells sensitive to radiation. The primary goal of the research is to provide lung cancer patients with a customized combination treatment of the drugs and radiation therapy.
Dr. Bennett is evaluating potential biomarkers for their use in identifying lung cancer patients by comparing blood samples taken from patients with lung cancer and from patients without lung cancer. His goal is to build a panel of biomarkers that will aid in diagnosis.
Dr. Borgia is developing a process based on biomarkers derived from tissue and clinical factors such as age, smoking history, histology, and stage of diagnosis of lung cancer. This process will identify which patients with advanced-stage lung cancer will respond to medical treatment and thus qualify for surgery that potentially could cure the cancer.
The CHFR gene is a gene that has undergone changes in its DNA. Dr. Brandes is studying how the CHFR gene predicts a non-small cell lung cancer patient’s response to chemotherapy.
The PARP protein is a protein that protects cancer cells from being killed by chemotherapy. Dr. Brandes is determining how drugs that stop the PARP protein can be used for targeted therapy of non-small cell lung cancer.
Dr. Chandel is working to identify novel pathways underlying KRAS-driven lung cancer. He is testing two pathways, to determine how mitochondria (powerhouses of the cell) and Notch signaling (a pathway often activated in lung cancer that relays information from outside the cell to inside) behave differently in cancer and non-cancer cells.
Previous work of Dr. Eaton and colleagues has demonstrated that mice vaccinated with certain stem cells are 80%-90% protected against the growth of lung tumors injected into the mice as well as protected against the development of lung cancer caused by administration of a carcinogen. The current research is determining whether lung cancer stem cells are selectively destroyed by lymphocytes (immune cells) from vaccinated mice. Dr. Eaton is also determining whether stem cell vaccination affects the growth of lung tumors in mice that have been genetically engineered to spontaneously develop lung cancer.
The key proteins driving the growth of new blood vessels in tumors are the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its main receptors. Dr. Innocenti is studying how the level of these factors varies in the tumors of non-small cell lung cancer patients. He is also determining whether there is a genetic basis for the difference in their levels and what the role of these proteins in helping patients live longer is.
Dr. Khullar’s project addresses a huge unmet need in lung cancer–how to ensure chemotherapy drugs are being delivered at the right concentration to sites of lung cancer metastasis. He has developed a nanoparticle system in which the particles carry the chemotherapy paclitaxel to different sites of metastasis, thus preventing the spread of lung cancer.
Patients often face anxiety and distress following a lung cancer diagnosis. Dr. Krasna is studying how we can improve the recognition and treatment of psychosocial distress in lung cancer patients.
Small cell lung cancer cells produce high amounts of myc protein. The myc protein makes cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy. Dr. Ljungman is investigating why small cell lung cancer makes high amounts of the myc protein and how this can be reversed.