Lung Cancer Initiative (LCI) has awarded UNC Lineberger’s Chad Pecot, MD, a $100,000 LCI Alumni Supplemental Grant to further support his research into the mechanistic and therapeutic implications of co-targeting two genes linked to lung cancer.
Treatments that block mutated cancer genes have resulted in significant improvements in cancer care. Despite this progress, two well-known genes that have important roles in lung cancer, KRAS and MYC, have been elusive for drug makers. Pecot and his UNC Lineberger colleagues have developed a new RNA-based drug that is targeted to the tumor cells and can simultaneously silence both KRAS and MYC. This project seeks to determine how a tumor may respond to this aggressive treatment.
“This work will help us understand the complex environment that supports tumor growth and can help pave the way to newer medicines for lung cancer care,” said Pecot, associate professor of medicine at the UNC School of Medicine and director of the UNC RNA Discovery Center.
LCI’s Alumni Supplemental Grant celebrates the organization’s 15th year as a 501 (c)3 by helping lung cancer researchers who have previously been funded by LCI to advance studies that are already underway and where additional funding is necessary to cover the cost of unanticipated time or resources needed to further the study or expand the original aims of the study.