Lung Cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality among both men and women in the United States and worldwide. Each year, more people die of lung cancer than from colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. Cigarette smoking is the most common risk factor for lung cancer, accounting for about 80 percent of cases.
Despite receiving proportionately less research funding per patient than many other cancer types, exciting diagnostic and treatment advances are beginning to emerge. However, there is a need to devise new, creative high risk - high gain strategies. The goal of the Lung Cancer TCE is to accelerate our pace of discovery and to fuel innovation, so that we can provide patients with meaningful options they need right now. Our focus to date has been on the emerging field of immunotherapy.
Leading-Edge Research Guided by Unwavering Hope
Led by Steve M. Albelda, MD and Corey J. Langer, MD, the Lung Cancer TCE is a multidisciplinary initiative that brings together experts from across the Penn community as well as brilliant minds nationally and internationally, all committed to finding better treatment options for lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies. We were very early believers in the promise of immunotherapy for lung cancer, and began predicting and preparing for what has now become the standard of care for hard-to-treat lung cancers. The Lung Cancer TCE has made significant progress in translating CAR T — a personalized immunotherapy technique developed at Penn Abramson Cancer Center that harnesses the power of the immune system to combat blood cancers — to treat lung cancer. In the past decade, the Lung Cancer TCE has:
- Improved tumor detection during surgery using intraoperative imaging in the Center for Precision Surgery.
- Identified tumor-specific biomarkers that better predict therapy response, optimizing targeted therapy selection.
- Defined the types and functions of white blood cells within lung cancer tumors that affect tumor growth and response to therapies.
- Delineated immune checkpoint inhibition response determinants.
- Established project-based databases to track lung cancer patients' responses to treatments and support lab-based studies, clinical trials, and translational research.
- Facilitated tissue acquisition and a biobanking infrastructure to conduct genomic analyses and other translational studies.
- Partially supported the salaries of numerous junior investigators to allow them to participate in lung cancer research.
- Conducted, published and presented novel clinical projects with promising patient outcomes as plenary papers.
Lung Cancer TCE Databases
Led by Christiana W. Davis, MD, (in collaboration with the directors of the Electronic Phenotyping Resource, Peter E. Gabriel, MD, MSE and Abigail G. Doucette, MPH) the Lung Cancer TCE creates and maintains databases of lung cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors within the institution. These databases allow us to track patients' response to treatment and identify novel markers of outcome. These databases have been critical in identifying patients for translational and clinical projects, and providing preliminary data for grants, abstracts, presentations and manuscripts. (See selected list of publications)
Philanthropic Funding Matters
Traditional funding, including government grants and research agreements with pharmaceutical and biotech companies are quite conservative and require significant preliminary data. However, the discovery of cutting edge science is often high risk, high reward, so there is a need to try new, creative, previously unproven therapeutic strategies. We need philanthropic support to realize the full potential of our innovative research. Your gift will accelerate scientific discovery. Learn more about our novel approach to "team science." (See our Multidisciplinary Initiatives)
Giving Opportunities
Gifts to the Lung Cancer TCE will support its mission of maintaining excellence in its continued discovery of cutting edge science and research.
To make a gift to the Lung Cancer TCE, please contact Katie Dewees Detzel at Penn Medicine Development, kdewees@upenn.edu, 215-746-1927. Thank you for your generosity and your desire to join us in our fight against cancer.
Welcome to the 2023 Lung Cancer TCE Retreat
Presenters: Corey J. Langer, MD, Melina Marmarelis, MD, Cole Friedes, MD, David Cantor, MD, Sokratis
Apostolides, MD, Charu Aggarwal, MD, Gerald P. Linette, MD, PHD, Andrew Haas, MD, PhD, Patrick
Forde, M.B.B.Ch, Jarrod Predina, MD, MTR, Sunil Singhal, MD, Despina Kontos, Ph.D, Sharyn Katz, MD,
Jeffrey Thompson, MD, and Nilam Mangalmurti, MD.
MediaSite Video Presentations: https://mediasite.med.upenn.edu/mediasite/Channel/tce-retreat-2023