Harnessing pre-clinical lung cancer patient models for precision immuno-oncology

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the UK in both men and women. Therapies that modulate the immune system have shown promise as cancer treatments but to improve outcomes for lung cancer patients we need to develop better laboratory models to study the response of the disease to therapies.

The TRAcking Cancer Evolution through therapy (Rx) (TRACERx) clinical study at UCL is tracking the diversity of lung tumours to understand their resistance to therapy. I will use tumour samples and immune cells from the TRACERx study to model human lung cancer both in the laboratory and in animals. We expect to be able to select and expand cultures of immune cells that can kill tumour cells and could form the basis of future therapies.

The findings of the study will inform future treatments to improve the ability of a patient’s immune system to fight cancer.