Grant: Project Grant

Lung cancer is responsible for the greatest number of cancer deaths because it is often diagnosed late and the treatments for it are not that effective. A new type of treatment (immunotherapy) that uses the person's own immune system to kill cancer cells is becoming increasingly popular because it has worked really well in some patients with advanced disease to completely make their cancer disappear and some have even been cured. The problem with this treatment is that it is very difficult to tell which patients will respond and which will not, as well as not knowing how or when to change treatments to make them work better. We have developed a blood test that looks directly at how much cancer is present in a patient and changes in the amount of cancer can show if the treatment is working or not. This test can give results very quickly, within weeks of starting a treatment, instead of the 3 months it now takes using CT scans. With this new tool we will be able to help doctors optimize these treatments, making them more effective in a greater number of patients. For patients that do not respond initially, extra drugs and even radiation can be added in to help boost the effectiveness of the treatment. This will allow for the tailoring of treatments to individual patients based on their ongoing response, hopefully leading to longer and healthier lives.