Custom switchable cell therapy to control lung cancer resistance
Personalization and Failure Testing of Dual Switch Gene Drives in Lung Cancer
A switchable cell therapy designed to guide how non-small-cell lung cancers evolve so treatments stay effective for patients.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Pennsylvania State University, the NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (University Park, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11169900 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Researchers are building a synthetic "dual-switch" cell therapy that can turn drug resistance on or off inside tumors using small molecules so the tumor's evolution can be steered. They will design and test these circuits in mammalian cell models of non-small-cell lung cancer and use mathematical biophysics and evolutionary models to tune the responses. The team plans to personalize the approach for tumors with different driver mutations (for example EGFR, ALK, ROS1, RET, TRK) and deliberately test how the system can fail to improve safety and robustness. This work is led at Penn State and is focused on translating lab findings toward therapies relevant to patients.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates would be people with non-small-cell lung cancer driven by tyrosine kinase mutations (like EGFR, ALK, ROS1, RET, or TRK) who might be eligible for experimental cell-based treatments.
Not a fit: People without these specific lung cancer mutations, with other cancer types, or who cannot receive cell-based therapies are unlikely to benefit from this work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could slow or prevent drug resistance in lung cancers and extend how long patients respond to targeted therapies.
How similar studies have performed: Similar ideas are largely experimental—while cell therapies have shown success in blood cancers, this dual-switch approach for solid tumors is novel and not yet proven in patients.
Where this research is happening
University Park, United States
- Pennsylvania State University, the — University Park, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Pritchard, Justin — Pennsylvania State University, the
- Study coordinator: Pritchard, Justin
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.