Lung cancer is far and away the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. In the U.S. alone, a projected 142,000 people will die of the disease this year.
A new five-year, $13 million grant will help scientists and clinicians at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center try to improve outcomes for these patients. Created by the new grant, the Hutch’s new Specialized Program of Research Excellence in Lung Cancer will bring together experts from across Fred Hutch and its partner organizations to fast-track the latest breakthroughs in its labs to patients and those at risk of developing the disease.
The National Cancer Institute’s SPORE initiative is designed to speed basic scientific advances into the clinic, said Dr. McGarry Houghton, a lung cancer immunologist and the leader of the Hutch’s new program. The NCI requires every research project in a SPORE to start clinical testing by the end of the five-year period.
“I’m most excited about the opportunities to finally offer lung cancer patients in Seattle the very best science coming out of Fred Hutch,” Houghton said. “We can now take the best homegrown ideas from our labs and bring them to the clinic, bypassing the shortcomings of current therapies.”
Fred Hutch’s lung cancer SPORE is organized around four initial projects:
