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Lung Cancer
- Lung Cancer Research

How we're ending Lung Cancer

Our intentions are noble – put patients at the forefront of our lung cancer investigation to make their cure today’s reality. Our process is groundbreaking – use in-house, industry-quality platforms to ensure that our breakthrough lung cancer discoveries aren’t left sitting in academic research labs.

By combining Innovation, Collaboration and Scale, the Lung Cancer Moon Shot^®Thống kê lô gan team is revolutionizing the conventional medical research approach to rapidly adapt pre-clinical findings into lung cancer treatment options.

Lung Cancer Moon Shot Research and Treatment Efforts

ABOUT LUNG CANCER

The most common type of cancer

Thống kê lô ganLung cancer develops when cells in the tissues of the lungs grow and multiply uncontrollably. It's the number one cause of cancer deaths worldwide, claiming 437 lives every day in the U.S. alone. Treatment of this disease is complicated by its many forms, depending on which particular gene functions incorrectly.

About lung cancer

Lung Cancer Moon Shot Leaders

Don Gibbons, M.D., Ph.D.

Thống kê lô ganAssociate Professor, Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology
John Heymach, M.D., Ph.D.

Thống kê lô ganChair, Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology
Thống kê lô gan Ara Vaporciyan, M.D.

Thống kê lô ganChair, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery

Innovation

Twenty-five percent of NSCLCs are driven by KRAS mutations, to which there are no targeted therapies available. Our experts leveraged enormous amounts of tumor profiling data to identify the validated therapies that are most likely to be effective against this subtype of NSCLC. Now, we're conducting clinical trials to test these targeted therapies in combination with immunotherapy to treat KRAS-driven NSCLC.

Collaboration

Our bold plan requires strong partnerships. That’s why we work closely with several Moon Shot^® research engines, pharmaceutical companies, state education systems and policy makers to impact lung cancer treatment, detection and prevention.

Scale

Our clinical research is supported by immense expertise and even larger amounts of patient data. Our Genomic Marker-Guided Therapy Initiative (GEMINI) project has collected detailed clinical and molecular information on over 4,000 lung cancer patients in the last three years. This information will guide our integrated approach to treating lung cancer.

Thống kê lô ganHow you can help

Help end lung cancer

“There’s no place where the people doing the research and the people in the clinic treating patients are working together any more closely.”

Thống kê lô ganListen as Moon Shot co-leader John Heymach, M.D., Ph.D., explains what makes the Lung Cancer Moon Shot unique and how your support enables us to bring new treatments to lung cancer patients as quickly as possible.

Our Flagship Projects

Thống kê lô ganThe Lung Cancer Moon Shot is aimed at ending lung cancer using novel approaches on the following fronts:

Treatment
Detection
Prevention

Thống kê lô ganRead more about each of the three projects below.

Personalizing lung cancer treatment through GEMINI

Thống kê lô ganWe're solving common treatment problems using unique targeted therapy and immunotherapy strategies. Genomic Marker-Guided Therapy Initiative (GEMINI) unites lung cancer experts across several research disciplines with the mission of improving treatment options for all lung cancer types. Using the newest molecular technology for tumor profiling, the project goal is to find cancer-driving mutations for every subset of lung cancer – even those seen in only 1 or 2 percent of lung cancer patients.

Learn more

Earlier detection through biomarker discovery

Low dose CT scans catch enough early-stage cancers to reduce lung cancer by 20%, but our team aims to further improve detection rates through more robust screening methods. We’re collaborating with the Proteomics Moon Shot platform to analyze cancer cells for tumor-specific signatures that may be used to detect lung cancer earlier and more accurately. Once complete, these lung cancer specific signatures will be assembled into a screening panel and used to supplement CT scanning.

Learn more

Adult smoking cessation and youth prevention

Our Moon Shot team is dedicated to preventing lung cancer before it ever starts by focusing on lung cancer’s most avoidable cause: smoking. Ninety percent of smokers begin the habit before the age of 18, so we're partnering with schools to discourage adolescents from forming smoking habits in the first place. Our experts have developed a free, bilingual web-based health education tool, A Smoke Prevention Interactive Experience (ASPIRE), to educate teens on the risks of smoking. In addition to youth prevention, our team is conducting several studies aimed at improving the effectiveness of adult smoking cessation programs.

Learn more

RESEARCH UPDATE

New treatment option for non-small cell lung cancer patients with rare mutation

Lung Cancer Moon Shot researchers have resurrected a previously identified targeted therapy and discovered that it produces promising response rates in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer that carries an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation called an exon 20 insertion.

Learn more

Our research by the numbers

The Lung Cancer Moon Shot is leading a first-of-its-kind study to collect blood samples from 10,000 heavy smokers.

Thống kê lô ganMD Anderson is currently leading a first-of-its-kind study to collect and analyze blood samples from 10,000 heavy smokers in the U.S. This study will enable us to catch lung cancer earlier.

STORIES OF HOPE

Advocating lung cancer screening

Thống kê lô ganA chance encounter led Sherry Zorzi, a former smoker, to participate in a lung cancer screening program. Her results provided good and bad news. The bad news was that she had lung cancer. The good news was that it had been detected early and was very small. Now, as a cancer survivor, Sherry is urging every smoker she knows to quit — and both current and former smokers to get screened.

Read Sherry's story >

RESEARCH UPDATE

A new way to kill lung cancer

A new class of inhibitors offers a novel way to treat lung cancer with minimal toxic side effects on normal cells, according to a laboratory study funded through philanthropic contributions to the Lung Cancer Moon Shot. These inhibitors act to specifically destroy abnormal lung cancer cells. This innovating finding holds promise for future clinical studies of this novel class of agents.

Learn more

FACTS ABOUT LUNG CANCER

Not just for smokers

More than 28,000 people who’ve never smoked die of lung cancer each year. If we consider only the 15% of lung cancers diagnosed in never-smokers as a separate disease, it would be the sixth-leading cause of U.S. cancer deaths.

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Your gift will help end lung cancer.

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