When a person is treated for advanced-stage lung cancer, tumors will often shrink, and their symptoms may subside. An effective treatment will kill many tumor cells, but there are usually some cells (called drug-tolerant persister cells, or DTPCs) left behind. If these cancer cells survive treatment, they will eventually begin to grow again.
Researchers have been making progress in understanding how DTPCs grow and, importantly, how that growth can be stopped. As we learn more about these cells, we get closer to eliminating lung cancer relapse and saving lives.
Investing in Cutting-Edge Research
Translational research is an integral part of developing lifesaving solutions. This type of research bridges the gap between basic science knowledge and interventions for patients. Only translational research can build on our fundamental understanding of DTPCs to develop real-world solutions for people living with lung cancer.
For nearly two decades, LUNGevity has been strategically supporting translational lung cancer research. This work has already:
- Developed an FDA-approved lung cancer treatment for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer
- Created new areas of research to explore in small cell lung cancer
- Significantly bolstered our research progress with more than 400 impactful scientific manuscripts
One of the projects funded by LUNGevity, in partnership with EGFR Resisters—a patient-driven nonprofit that aims to improve the quality of life and life expectancy of people with EGFR-positive lung cancer—supports understanding the mechanisms of DTPC-mediated drug resistance at the genomic and proteomic level.
Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, is the recipient of a 2021 EGFR Resisters/LUNGevity Lung Cancer Research Award. This research takes an innovative approach to address an unmet need in the EGFR-positive lung cancer community—preventing drug resistance by targeting DTPCs.
These are cells that can just repopulate the tumor. Even if you get a very effective treatment, somehow these tumors either don’t respond or learn how to escape early from the effects of the treatment…. It just takes one little tumor cell to misbehave and escape and, over time, repopulate.
-Dr. Christine Lovly, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
LUNGevity’s executive director of research, Upal Basu Roy, PhD, MPH, moderated a live webinar with Dr. Lovly and Jill Feldman, co-founder of EGFR Resisters. The conversation provided those living with lung cancer a better understanding of DTPCs and their role in drug resistance.
Watch the recording below for:
- Examples of patient CT scans with DTPCs
- Limitations on DTPC-focused research
- Options to detect DTPCs
- Tips for donating tissue samples and biobanking tumors
- Importance of basic and translational research