Previously Funded Research

Brendon Stiles, MD

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Research Project:

Blocking ART1 Proteins to Prevent Lung Cancer Metastasis

Summary:

(Awarded with Timothy McGraw, PhD and Vivek Mittal, PhD) ART1 is a protein that Dr. Stiles and his team have found to be commonly expressed in high amounts on the surface of lung cancer cells. The researchers discovered that ART1 might play an important role in the ability of lung cancer cells to spread, or metastasize. They believe lung cancer cells use ART1 to trick the immune system into not killing the cancer cells, and if they can find a way to block ART1, the patient’s own immune system might be able to destroy those cells before they can spread. Dr. Stiles and his team will research the specific role ART1 plays in the growth and spread of lung cancer and will use that information to find ways to block it. They will investigate several drugs known to inhibit the action of ART1 in patients with other diseases to see if these drugs could also treat lung cancer. Because these drugs are already approved to treat other diseases, they expect to begin clinical trials in the near future for lung cancer patients with high amounts of ART1 on cells in their tumors.