Summer 2025
By Kathleen Clute
Photography by Sam Ogden
A collaborative, multi-institution team led by Dana-Farber’s David Barbie, MD, received a four-year, $2.5 million grant from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) and Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) for researching a cure for non-small cell lung carcinoma. Barbie is the director of Dana-Farber’s Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology Jane Rodgers Chair at Dana-Farber.
While the disease can often be successfully treated in the short term, the cancer cells eventually become resistant to chemotherapy and other therapies. One reason is drug-tolerant resister (DTP) cells that hide from both cancer treatments and the immune system, allowing the cancer to return and spread. Barbie’s team is searching for vulnerabilities in these cells that could allow them to be targeted and killed by immunotherapies, which have so far proven ineffective.
The funding for the groundbreaking project comes from the first joint IASLC–LCRF Team Science Research Grant on the Next Step in the Cure of Oncogene-Driven Lung Cancers. Barbie’s team includes Dana-Farber’s Elliott Brea, MD, PhD; Pasi Jänne, MD, PhD; Eric Smith, MD, PhD; and researchers from two other institutions. Jänne is director of the Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science and of the Chen-Huang Center for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancers, and the David M. Livingston, MD, Chair at Dana-Farber; Smith is director of translational research for Immune Effector Cell Therapies.
Barbie’s team has discovered certain enzymes that regulate the way DTP cells interact with the body’s immune system and interferons—proteins that play a critical role in helping the immune system combat disease.
“By inhibiting these enzymes, we will test whether this could unleash the immune response against these residual cells, thus eradicating tumors and increasing cure rates,” said Barbie. “It’s a true honor that the LCRF and IASLC have recognized the promise of our research done in collaboration with investigators here and in Japan.”
The LCRF notes that while lung cancer is responsible for more deaths worldwide than any other form of cancer, there have been many advances in the molecular profiling of tumors and FDA approval for new therapies targeting oncogenes—the mutated genes that give rise to cancer. But resistance usually develops, and the disease progresses.
“Being able to stop resistance before it begins would be a lifesaver.”
Antoinette Wozniak, MD, Lung Cancer Research Foundation
“Our goal with this grant is to investigate strategies that will lead to a cure for oncogene-driven lung cancer,” said Antoinette Wozniak, MD, chief scientific officer for LCRF. “Being able to stop resistance before it begins would be a lifesaver. We are confident that this team can move the science forward and potentially change the treatment paradigm for patients.”