2015 Lung Cancer Research Foundation Annual Grant Program
Linde Miles,
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Research Project:
Identification of the receptor for an important lung cancer targeting virus
Summary:
New and more effective treatments are desperately needed for small cell lung cancer (SCLC), a particularly aggressive and deadly form of lung cancer. Recently, Seneca Valley Virus (SVV), an oncolytic virus that selectively infects and kills SCLC cells, has shown promising anti-tumor efficacy in early phase clinical trials. Many viruses use a specific receptor protein to bind and enter host cells, which defines what cells the virus can infect. In oncolytic viruses, these receptors can be used as biomarkers to identify patients who have tumors that could be infected by the virus. However, the receptor protein for SVV is currently unknown, leaving no way to identify which SCLC patients would benefit from SVV virotherapy. Linde and her team recently used genome wide loss-of-function screens to identify the anthrax toxin receptor 1 (ANTXR1) protein as an essential protein for SVV. They have confirmed that SVV requires ANTXR1 to enter and infect permissive SCLC cells and aim to further characterize the interaction between ANTXR1 and SVV. Ultimately, the team hopes to use ANTXR1 as a biomarker for SVV virotherapy for SCLC.