Radiosensitising agents in NSCLC
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Radiosensitising agents for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
IRAS ID
174043
Contact name
Sarah Danson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, 85% of lung cancer is non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While radiotherapy is offered to the majority of NSCLC patients, survival rates remain low often due to lack of response to radiotherapy termed radio-resistance. Thus strategies to predict and improve radiotherapy response are urgently required. When tumours undergo radiotherapy, damage is induced in their DNA; this is what causes cells to die. However in some radio-resistant tumours mechanisms have arisen that allow cells to continue to grow even in the presence of DNA damage. This can be exploited in two ways: first monitoring cells for increased levels of the pathways involved in resistance can inform clinicians as to whether radiotherapy is a suitable choice for that patient, and second inhibition of the mechanism that controls resistance may resensitise tumours to radiotherapy.
Our pilot data suggest that one such approach in NSCLC is to combine radiation with Aurora-A kinase inhibitors (AURKA-i). We will test the hypothesis of sensitisation in a range of NSCLC cell lines models. In parallel we will assess the value of AURKA and other proteins associated with response to radiotherapy as a predictive biomarkers for radiation response. To do this we will use samples of patient tumours to determine the level of expression of various proteins and correlate it with response to radiation therapy and survival.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/YH/0124
Date of REC Opinion
15 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion