YALE SPORE IN LUNG CANCER (YSILC) OVERALL SUMMARY The Biology and Personalized Treatment of Primary and Metastatic Lung Cancer: The YSILC unites translational scientists spanning diverse areas of cancer research to converge on addressing the challenge of lung cancer. The goal of the YSILC is to reduce mortality from lung cancer through development of novel therapeutics and treatment approaches that are based on an understanding of targetable biochemical and immunological pathways involved in progression of lung cancer, acquisition of resistance, and development of metastasis The YSILC translational research team will accomplish this objective through three projects: Project 1: Test the hypotheses that Siglec-15 (S15) is a major immune suppressor in PD-L1/B7-H1-negative lung cancer and that blockade of S15 can be efficacious for a subset of lung cancer patients; Project 2: Evaluate mechanism-based approaches to counter tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance in EGFR-mutant lung cancer; Project 3: Targeting lung cancer metastasis and drug resistance in the central nervous system. There are three Cores (Administrative; Biostatistics and Bioinformatics; and Biospecimen, Pathology, and Genomics) to support the projects and their clinical aims, mechanistic studies, and evaluation of biomarkers for clinical application. Strong Developmental Research and Career Enhancement Programs (DRP, CEP) with a history of choosing diverse and productive projects with good outcomes are also proposed. The highly coordinated YSILC projects, cores, and programs are focused on developing novel lung cancer therapies, with analysis of patient samples, cell-based assays, production of human cell lines and animal models of disease as a guide to design prospective trials that translate these innovative targeted approaches to clinical therapies. Each of these projects has a clinical trial (either investigator-initiated or NCI-based) designed to test the sensitivity and resistance of the new therapy with molecular correlates. The expected translational outcomes of the program include: (1) a highly coordinated and focused development of a novel immune agent discovered during our current SPORE research; (2) an improved understanding of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of resistance to EGFR therapies and how to combat it; (3) an understanding of the mechanism underlying brain metastasis; (4) expanding the breadth of lung cancer research by developing the next generation of investigators and encouraging established investigators in other fields to pursue studies on lung cancer through our CEP and DRP programs.
OVERALL NARRATIVE Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer death in the United States and the Yale SPORE in Lung Cancer is designed to identify novel biologic pathways and test new therapeutic approaches to interfere with lung cancer progression and metastasis. All three projects in the SPORE will initiate Yale-led novel clinical trials and will promote bench to bedside research within the center. This program has the potential to make significant impact in guiding the selection of therapies most likely to provide benefit to lung cancer patients with treatment refractory disease in the primary or metastatic setting.
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