Kris Wood, PhD

Lung cancers are often discovered after they have spread throughout the body. When this happens, patients must be treated with drugs. These drugs often shrink tumors but do not cure patients. The tumor cells that survive these drug treatments are known as “residual” cells. Residual cells eventually grow back, causing death. For this reason, we are very interested in discovering drugs that can kill residual lung cancer cells. Recently we discovered that residual lung cancer cells cannot survive without an enzyme called PKN2. We have access to a drug that blocks PKN2. Further, we already know that this drug is safe for patients. We are applying for grant funds to do three things. First, we will determine which residual lung cancers are most sensitive to this drug. Second, we will determine how this drug kills residual lung cancers. Third, we will determine how well this drug prevents lung cancer from relapsing in mice. Together, these studies will advance our understanding of residual lung cancer. They will also advance a new drug therapy that can be quickly translated to clinical trials by our team of expert doctors and scientists.