2025 LCRF Research Grant on Overcoming Resistance in Lung Cancer
Dongsung Kim, PhD
Ohio State University
Research Project:
A novel targeted therapeutic strategy for KRAS inhibitor resistant lung cancers
Summary:
Lung cancer remains the top cancer with highest mortality. Particularly, a gene called “KRAS” is often (~30%) mutated in lung cancer patients. With recent advances in medicinal chemistry, KRAS inhibitors directly targeting the oncoprotein KRAS are now available in the clinic and more inhibitors are being developed. While this has revolutionized the way to treat lung cancer patients, the drug response rate is variable among many patients. This proposal is aimed to diagnose the KRAS inhibitor responses from a blood sample through biomarkers that we have identified to offer a better combination therapy for patients who are less sensitive to a single KRAS inhibitor treatment. Our preliminary results suggest that the strong DNA damage repair response is one of the key differences in the KRAS inhibitor insensitive cells. We plan to achieve our goal by co-targeting the KRAS and DNA repair proteins.
