New York City-based Mount Sinai has been awarded a three-year, $500,000 grant from Stand Up To Cancer to explore therapeutic approaches to lung tumors with KRAS gene mutations.
KRAS mutations are one of the most common mutations in lung cancer and occur in about 30 percent of non-small cell lung cancers. This research could have a significant impact for a large portion of patients without effective treatment options, according to an Aug. 9 press release.
Thanks to the SU2C grant, Mount Sinai researchers will partner with Kwok-Kin Wong, MD, PhD, who is the co-principal investigator and the Anne Murnick Cogan and David H. Cogan Professor of Oncology in the Department of Medicine and director of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at NYU Langone's Perlmutter Cancer Center. They seek to identify possible therapeutic combinations that build on the impact of JZP-815, a pan-RAF inhibitor.
"Together, we have the potential to develop new treatment strategies for KRAS-mutant lung cancer patients who are in critical need of improved clinical options," co-lead investigator Benjamin D. Hopkins, PhD, said. "We are grateful to Stand Up To Cancer for making this undertaking possible."