Adenocarcinoma

Cancer-causing proteins called heat shock proteins (HSPs) protect cancer cells from the effects of chemotherapy. Dr. Regan is testing how inhibiting the protein chaperon HSP90 affects the growth of different lung cancer cells.

The protein osteopontin plays a significant role in the malignant potential of numerous types of cancer, including lung cancer. There are three distinct forms of this protein in humans. Dr. Donington is studying how the individual forms play significantly different roles in determining the invasive metastatic potential in 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.

The rationale behind Dr. Goodglick’s research is that the hormone estrogen and estrogen-pathway activation are important for lung cancer progression. Aromatase is an enzyme that makes estrogen in the body. Dr. Goodglick is conducting extensive pre-clinical evaluations of three aromatase inhibitors to understand steps in the estrogen stimulation pathway that affect tumor progression.

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.

Dr. Moghaddam is investigating how airway inflammation can lead to lung cancer.  The factor NF-κβ is involved in both inflammation and carcinogenesis. Dr. Moghaddam’s hypothesis is that NF-κβ is a likely candidate for the promotion of lung cancer by inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.

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.

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.

The KRAS gene is the most common mutation in non-small cell lung cancer. Dr. Onaitis is studying how mutations of the KRAS gene affect different types of cells in the lungs and how these differences can be used to develop a targeted therapy that can lessen the effects of KRAS in lung cancer cells.