Improving Treatment for KRAS-Mutant Lung Cancer

While targeted therapies have emerged in the past decade to improve treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with some types of driver mutations (such as EGFR and ALK), lung adenocarcinomas with KRAS driver mutations have been notoriously difficult to study and treat. KRAS is just one member of a large family of proteins, called RTKs (receptor tyrosine kinases), that span from the surface of the cell into the cell’s interior. This positioning allows RTKs to detect signals (such as hormones or proteins) outside the cell and transmit signals to the inside of the cell. These signals

Lung Cancer Treatment Landscape: New Options and Ongoing Challenges

Drs. Upal Basu Roy, Amy Moore, and Dhru Deb discuss their recent publication in which they presented an analysis of the lung cancer drug pipeline. They talk about what it means for patients, new drugs under development for NSCLC and SCLC, and some of the ongoing challenges and opportunities this rapid growth means for the lung cancer community.

New Options in Adjuvant Therapy for Early-Stage NSCLC

Historically, surgery has been the most effective treatment for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While technological improvements, such as the development of minimally invasive techniques (such as video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery or VATS), have made surgeries safer for patients, the ability to cure early-stage NSCLC patients hasn’t improved significantly in recent decades. Even after successful surgeries that completely remove the visible tumor, about half of these patients will face a recurrence with their cancer coming back within five years. Researchers have

KRAS: How It Started vs. How It’s Going

On May 28, 2021, the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved sotorasib as the first targeted therapy for patients with KRAS G12C-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Both researchers and patients celebrated this historic breakthrough, which had been a goal since the KRAS oncogene was discovered 40 years ago. KRAS is a leading driver mutation in various forms of cancer. Still, targeting KRAS had failed for nearly four decades, leading many to believe that it was “undruggable.” In the nearly one year since this first FDA approval, advances in the KRAS space have continued

All Things KRAS: A Conversation with Terri Conneran and Dr. Darryl McConnell

On January 31, 2022, Amy Moore, PhD, brought us an update on KRAS. Dr. Moore, LUNGevity's Vice President of Global Engagement and Patient Partnerships, spoke with Terri Conneran, KRAS lung cancer survivor and founder of the KRAS Kickers; and Darryl McConnell, PhD, Research Site Head at Boehringer Ingelheim in Vienna, Austria.