Lung Cancer Program

The Lung Cancer Program at BC Cancer strives to decrease the incidence and mortality of lung cancer and improve the quality of life of lung cancer patients through a comprehensive strategy of prevention, early detection, timely diagnosis and personalized therapy.

What are the Lung Cancer Program’s goals:

1. Implement smoking cessation program in all centers within 2 years
2. Implement province-wide lung cancer screening
3. Improve 5-year survival from 18% to 50% within 10 years
4. Improve the patient & family experience in lung cancer journey
5. Translation of laboratory research to patient care

Improving the Lung Cancer Patient Experience:

• Rapid access Lung Evaluation and Assessment program (LEAP) with nurse navigators
• OASIS – lung cancer registry and outcome unit
• Lung cancer biobank with blood and tissue for future biomarker testing

The purpose of the Lung Cancer Biobank (LUTTISSUE):

• To establish an archival tissue bank from tissue remaining after central biomarker testing is completed at the Vancouver Centre.
• To allow BC Cancer Agency (BCCA) investigators to conduct future correlative studies relating tissue biomarker status to patient outcomes.

Research Milestones: New Drug Targets and Overcoming Treatment Resistance

1. Established a new approach to targeted therapy through hyperactivation of mutually exclusive oncogenic mutations in cancer cells through inhibition of DUSP6 phosphatase that restrain ERK activity in tumours with EGFR or KRAS oncogene mutation
2. GGA2 has been identified as an essential co-operator of mutant EGFR-mediated lung tumorigenesis and development of TKI resistance. Inhibition of GGA2 sensitizes mutant EGFR lung cancers to tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Use of combination therapies of GGA2 and TKI tocircumvent resistance will be further tested.
3. Discovered resistance to MET kinase inhibitors was found to be due to acquired KRAS mutations. Targeting downstream components of KRAS in conjunction with MET TKI offer a new strategy to combat drug resistance.
4. Discovered inhibition of PAPSS1 gene sensitizes lung cancer cells to cisplatin treatment offering a strategy to improve efficacy of chemotherapy
5. Revealed the mechanism of action of a novel small molecule called LCS3 for lung cancer treatment using high-throughput screens. LCS3 acutely activates reactive oxygen species production in lung cancer cells but not normal lung cells.
6. Identified RNA based biomarkers for distinguishing mesothelioma from metastatic lung cancer
7. Identified 3 Oncofetal genes as new targets for treatment of adenocarcinoma
8. Identified new target against E2F for small cell lung cancer treatment
9. Identified non-coding RNAs to predict recurrence-free survival

Who are we?

Program Leaders:

Clinician Scientists:

Stephen Lam, Janessa Laskin, Renelle Myers, Ren Yuan, Diana Ionescu; Anna McGuire

Researchers:

Calum MacAualy, Wan Lam, Will Lockwood, Kevin Benewith, Haishan Zeng, Pierre Lane, Martial Guillaud, Sonya Cressman

BC Cancer Foundation is the fundraising partner of BC Cancer, which includes BC Cancer Research. Together with our donors, we are changing cancer outcomes for British Columbians by funding innovative research and personalized treatment and care.

Contact Us

BC Cancer Research Institute
675 West 10th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1L3

Toll Free: 1 888 675 8001