Host Agonistic Autoantibodies: A Novel Mechanism Promoting Lung Cancer Progression and Recurrence
Abstract
Lung cancer causes more cancer deaths than any other cancer. Despite advances in treatment, long-term survival after surgical treatment for the most common type of lung cancer remains low. These deaths mostly arise from recurrence of the disease at local and distant sites of the body. Achieving the goal of the Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program -- to eradicate deaths from lung cancer to better the health and welfare of the military and the American public -- will be accelerated by identifying mechanisms that contribute to treatment failure (disease recurrence) and identifying biomarkers that predict who is at risk for disease recurrence. One approach to realizing this goal is to develop tests that can not only detect the disease, but also yield information on how likely it is that the cancer will recur following surgical treatment. The immune system in our body normally produces substances called antibodies that target specific components of a bacteria, fungus, or virus to help defend us against such invaders. Sometimes, the antibody made reacts against our own cellular components (acts an autoantibody). We have been characterizing a novel autoantibody that, when bound to its target, stimulates certain cells to grow, proliferate, and survive. The proposed research tests whether (a) measuring autoantibody levels in blood are predictive of lung cancer recurrence and (b) treating lung cancer cells with autoantibodies isolated from serum from lung cancer patients induces biological activity consistent with tumor progression and recurrence. The short-term impact will be identifying a new area of research in basic lung cancer biology and characterizing how well the autoantibodies predict disease recurrence. Enhancing lung cancer detection and enabling prediction of disease recurrence would benefit individuals with lung cancer across a wide spectrum from early-stage disease to treatment and subsequent monitoring. The ability to predict risk of recurrence would have a big impact on refining treatments as well as for following patients post-treatment. A longer term goal is to develop methods to remove or neutralize the autoantibodies in blood so that they cannot contribute to lung cancer progression and recurrence.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 04, 2016
- Source ID
- W81XWH1510168
Entities
People
- Neal Fedarko
Organizations
- Johns Hopkins University
- United States Army