Quest for Personalised Treatments to Improve Lung-Cancer Patient Outcomes

Cure Cancer, with support from the Denton Trust, have awarded a grant to TRI based Dr Mark Adams. Mark will be expanding on his research into Lung Cancer and the benefit of various therapies, including chemotherapy, on individual patients.

“Chemotherapy functions by attacking the genome of tumours, but the main issue with this approach is that only twenty to thirty percent of patients respond,” said Mark. “We need new tests to identify which patients are the most likely to benefit from certain therapies and new agents to enhance the effectiveness of current drugs.”

Aiming to improve outcomes for patients, Mark will study novel molecules involved in the stability of genomes that will serve as “predictive biomarkers” to identify patients who will best respond to therapy.

The grant will also allow Mark to identify molecules that can form the basis for potential future drugs that will make chemotherapy more effective. This will include investigations into whether combining chemotherapy with new drugs that target proteins involved in tumour growth can improve patient responses. 

The new research will build upon Mark’s previous findings, in which he has already identified promising proteins that may assist in determining the patients who are best suited for chemotherapy. Mark is currently publishing some of these findings in respected international journals.

“In both a personal and professional sense, it’s a great honour to have my work funded by Cure Cancer. I’m extremely grateful to have the chance to test my findings,” said Mark.

TRI is looking forward to the results of Mark’s research and wishes him every success as he continues on his mission to improve the lives of cancer patients around the world.

This article adapted from blog published by Cure Cancer.