Clinical trial looks at targeted genetic therapies for lung cancer

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine are enrolling patients in a clinical trial looking at targeted gene therapies in patients with early stage lung cancer who have had surgery.

This could help researchers gain insight into genetic targets that could aid in earlier intervention and better outcomes for patients.

"Despite therapeutic advances in recent years, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States, and effective new therapies are still desperately needed. Additionally, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths for women and for men," says Sandra Starnes, MD, Dr. John B. Flege Jr. Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery, associate professor of surgery and co-director of the UC Cancer Institute's Comprehensive Lung Cancer Center. "Targeted genetic therapy holds great promise for improved efficacy in treating patients. In this trial, researchers will evaluate the use of a newer targeted therapy for early stage lung cancer patients who have had surgery and completed post-operative chemotherapy."

Starnes says previous studies have already demonstrated that targeted therapy, based on genetic mutations in the tumor, work better than traditional chemotherapy in patients with advanced lung cancer with certain genetic changes in their tumor.

"Currently, we don't know if these targeted therapies add to traditional chemotherapy in patients with early-stage lung cancers that have been treated with surgery," she says. "In this study, we will test lung cancer tumor tissue that has been removed from consenting participants for several genetic mutations and then help enroll these patients in randomized clinical trials using targeted therapy, for which they are deemed eligible.

"The hope is that this study will aid in enrolling patients into targeted therapeutic studies that could prove to be more effective in treating their cancers."