On abril 25, Dr. Edgardo Santos presented a Spanish-language webinar,Vivir con Diagnóstico de Cáncer de Pulmón (Living with a Diagnosis of Lung Cancer). Dr. Santos is Medical Director of Research Services, Florida Precision Oncology/A Division of Genesis Care; Clinical Affiliate Associate Professor and FAU Secretary of FLASCO.
The livestream was part of LCRF’s Minority Cancer Awareness Month programming.
View the recording below.
Dr. Loretta Erhunmwunsee from City of Hope joined us abril 20 for an important discussion about Minorities and Lung Cancer/Addressing Health Disparities. Dr. Isabel Preeshagul joined us as moderator.
Watch the recording below.
Dr. Kwon-Sik Park, associate professor of microbiology, immunology, and cancer biology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and 2012 Pilot Grant awardee, is one of the authors of a groundbreaking study that may have implications for development of a new treatment for small cell lung cancer (SCLC.) He, along with his co-author Dr. John Bushweller, were interviewed by Medical News Today about their findings related to the KIX domain of the EP300 protein that is essential for the development of SCLC and, as their study found, can also inhibit the cancer.
It is precisely these kinds of discoveries that LCRF funding is designed to enable, and we’re proud that our supporters made it possible to fund Dr. Kwon-Sik Park early in his career with the specific purpose of uncovering targeted treatment opportunities for SCLC.
The Lung Cancer Research Foundation is one of 55 groups which have signed on to urge Congress to allocate $60 million to the Lung Cancer Research Program within the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) in the Fiscal Year 2023 Department of Defense appropriations bill.
In fiscal year 2021, because of a lack of funding, the government program was forced to reject 82 out of 119 research proposals rated excellent or outstanding by reviewers (70%). This represents 82 missed opportunities to advance novel, desperately needed technologies and treatments to fight America’s top cancer killer. A $60 million appropriation could have funded all of these high quality proposals.
Lung cancer patients’ survival depends on significantly more research to advance new approaches ranging from early detection to treatments that combat resistance to existing therapeutics.
Veterans are at significantly greater risk for lung cancer and are diagnosed at higher rates than the general population. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) estimates that 900,000 veterans are at risk for lung cancer due to age, significantly higher rates of smoking, and environmental exposures during and after military service. However, lung cancer received only 3.46% ($20 million) of the $577.5 million in CDMRP cancer funds in fiscal year 2022, less than every named CDMRP cancer except one.
The collective strongly supports raising the overall federal funding level for all cancer programs, because new funding for any cancer should not come at the expense of other cancers.
Here’s how you can help: ask your Members of Congress to sign the “Dear Colleague” letter before the deadline!
The House letter deadline is abril 26 and Senate letter deadline is may 12, so don’t wait. Take action today at LungCAN.org/Act.
You can read the letter at this link.
LCRF and KRAS Kickers celebrated their partnership between LCRF and KRAS Kickers with a special session hosted by Terri Conneran, founder of KRAS Kickers. Dr. Chiara Ambrogio was our guest speaker for the marzo 28 webinar, sharing updates about what’s happening in the KRAS research space along with details on her work in this area.
Watch the recording below.
Groups introduce 2022 grant mechanism for ALK-positive lung cancer
NEW YORK, NY (marzo 28, 2022) – The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) and ALK Positive Inc. (ALK Positive) announce a research partnership to fund ALK-positive related lung cancer projects. Together, they pledge to fund three grants totaling $750,000 to advance high-impact research focused upon transforming care and improving outcomes for patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements, initially detected in NSCLC in 2007, occurs in approximately 5% of all lung cancer patients. However, it occurs in approximately 30% of lung cancer patients diagnosed under age 40, and there is no known correlation with smoking history nor any other health or environmental factors. About half of ALK-positive lung cancer patients are diagnosed before the age of 50 (compared to about age 70 for lung cancer overall), with many in their 30’s and 40’s, but some even in their teens and twenties.
The acceleration of precision medicine in NSCLC in the last decade, culminating in FDA approvals of targeted therapies for various molecular subsets of NSCLC, is in part due to advances in -omics and increased access to molecular profiling of tumors. The current FDA-approved treatment options for ALK-positive NSCLC include crizotinib, ceritinib, alectinib, brigatinib, and lorlatinib, with newer, next-generation therapies demonstrating superior efficacy against the disease. Although these ALK targeted therapies are associated with very durable responses, ALK-positive NSCLCs almost always develop resistance to currently available ALK inhibitors.
“ALK Positive is excited to partner with LCRF. Our partnership with LCRF leverages their rigorous selection process and access to experts to help us choose and support the research most likely to save the lives of patients and improve their quality of life,” notes Dr. Emily Venanzi, ALK-positive patient/survivor since 2017, and ALK Positive’s representative for this research partnership. “This $750,0000 research award program is our first research partnership with LCRF and will bring to almost $5,000,000 the total research grants our organization has helped fund and select. The members and supporters of ALK Positive and LCRF have made amazing efforts to raise funds for this award program. Currently, there is no known cure for this type of cancer in its advanced stage.”
“We are delighted to partner with ALK Positive on this funding mechanism,” remarked Dennis Chillemi, Executive Director of LCRF. “It is through partnerships like this one that research advancements are made. It is our hope that these awards accelerate ALK-positive therapeutics and uncover the next line of treatment options, so patients with this specific mutation have more options for positive outcomes.”
This funding mechanism will grant $250,000 over two years for selected projects and will be reviewed through a two-step process: first, submission of a Letter of Intent and, if selected, investigators will then be chosen to submit a full proposal. Both rounds of applications will be subject to a rigorous review by ALK Positive’s Research Review Panel and LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board. More details about the Request for Proposal, along with eligibility, requirements, and deadlines are available at LCRF.org/FundingOpportunities.
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About the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF)
The Lung Cancer Research Foundation® (LCRF) is the leading nonprofit organization focused on funding innovative, high-reward research with the potential to extend survival and improve quality of life for people with lung cancer. LCRF’s mission is to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. To date, LCRF has funded 394 research grants, totaling nearly $39 million, the highest amount provided by a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding lung cancer research. For more information about the LCRF grant program and funding opportunities, visit LCRF.org/research.
About ALK Positive
ALK Positive is a 501(c)(3) organization with the mission to improve the life expectancy and quality of life of ALK-positive cancer patients worldwide. ALK Positive is committed to raising funds for research to fund research proposals that will transform ALK-positive cancer into a chronic or curable condition for all patients living with this disease. ALK Positive has raised over $6M to date to fund ALK-positive specific cancer research. ALK Positive is affiliated with the ALK Positive Support Group, the world’s largest community of ALK-positive patients. For more information about ALK Positive, please visit www.alkpositive.org.
Contact:
LUNG CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Sheila Sullivan
Senior Director, Marketing & Communications
ssullivan@LCRF.org
ALK POSITIVE
Emily Venanzi
ALK Positive Medical Committee
emily.venanzi@alkpositive.org
Team LCRF does it again! Six runners finished 13.1 miles on Sunday, marzo 20, raising $20,000 for lung cancer research in the process. Congratulations to Daphne Zoda, Julien Guy, Sara Schacter Erenburg, Lauren Walsh, Julia Grimm, and Isabella Theodorobeakos. Read more about them here.
Want to get involved with a future Team LCRF event? We’re looking for cyclists to join us for the Five Boro Bike Tour on may 1. Find out more. We’ll be announcing openings for the TCS NYC Marathon soon!
The news: Dr. Brendon Stiles and his colleagues may have identified a new mechanism of resistance to immunotherapy in NSCLC, called ART1.
Why it’s important: ART1 may play a large role in contributing to resistance to immunotherapy.
A study co-authored by Dr. Brendon Stiles, Vice Chair of the LCRF Board and its Scientific Advisory Board, with work funded by LCRF through one of its legacy organizations, was recently published in Science Translational Medicine. Dr. Stiles and his colleagues uncovered a possible reason why some lung cancer tumors become resistant to immune check point inhibitors and designed a solution that bolsters the body’s immune response in the lab.
Unfortunately, the tumors of many people with lung cancer who are being treated with immunotherapy either don’t respond or stop responding and start to grow, becoming “resistant” to immunotherapy. Dr. Stiles’ work in mice suggests that a molecule called ART1 may play a large role in contributing to this resistance. His lab also developed an antibody specific to ART, similar to the way specific antibodies target PDL1 made by tumor cells – which is how immunotherapy works.
Dr. Stiles and his colleagues concluded their findings by saying their data “provides preclinical evidence that antibody-mediated targeting of ART1 can improve tumor control, supporting pursuit of this approach in clinical studies.”
Dr. Stephen Liu and Dr. Isabel Preeshagul joined us for a #TogetherSeparately Lung Cancer Community livestream on marzo 23, 2022. Dr. Liu serves as Thoracic Medical Oncologist and Associate Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University, as well as Director of Thoracic Oncology and Head of Developmental Therapeutics for the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. He provided an update on the latest news from IASLC’s recent Targeted Therapies of Lung Cancer meeting.
Watch the recording below.
Learn more about our webinar programs.
