Funded Projects

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. 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.

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.

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.

KCNK9 potassium channel activity is involved in the development of cancer, including lung cancers. Dr. Shikano is studying how this activity is regulated. An understanding of this process may lead to the development of a treatment that targets the channel activity.

Dr. Tryggestad is developing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based methods to characterize breathing motion. This information can then be used for radiotherapy planning, delivery, and optimization for the treatment of lung cancer patients.

HSP90, a heat shock protein, protects cancer cells from chemotherapy. Dr. Vielhauer’s laboratory is developing novel targeted therapy that selectively blocks HSP90 and kills lung cancer cells.