2013 UALC
Ferdinandos Skoulidis, MD, PhD
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Research Project:
Impact of NF1 inactivation on the pathogenesis, signaling circuitry and therapeutic responsiveness of NSCLC in a novel co-clinical trial of targeted therapy
Summary:
Mutations in the NF1 gene, involved in growth, proliferation and survival, is a novel candidate oncogenic driver gene involved in up to 8% of all lung adenocarcinomas. Dr. Skoulidis will comprehensively evaluate the role of NF1 mutations in lung tumor development, and analyze the impact of NF1 mutations on response to molecularly targeted therapies currently in clinical trials. In addition, his team will identify biomarkers to predict which patients with NF1-driven tumors are more or less likely to respond to those targeted drugs.