Intratumoral microbiota and immune predictors of response to immunotherapy in lung cancer
Funded at Baylor College of Medicine · NIH-11379074 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A scientist team will study whether specific microbes inside lung tumors and immune cells can predict who will respond to immunotherapy in lung cancer.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Baylor College of Medicine NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Houston, United States) |
| Project start | August 1, 2024 |
| Project end | July 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $1,933,680 |
| NIH project number | 4R01CA285882-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11379074 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with advanced NSCLC who are treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors and have pretreatment tumor tissue available from the three cohorts.
✕Less likely to help
Patients without access to pre-treatment tumor samples or those treated with therapies other than ICIs may not benefit.
What this research studies
This project will analyze tumor samples from three patient groups to see how intratumoral microbes relate to immune cell types and treatment response. Researchers will build an integrative model using microbiota data and immune features from pre-treatment biopsies of about 500 patients. The goal is to identify biomarkers that predict which patients will benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors and to understand resistance mechanisms. The study will use existing tissue samples and clinical data from Baylor, Boston, and Moffitt cohorts to test predictive power and inform future treatment decisions.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, patients with NSCLC could be more accurately guided to immunotherapy likely to help them.
How similar studies have gone: Prior work has linked immune biomarkers to ICI response, but this study is one of the first to integrate intratumoral microbiota with immune cell profiles across multiple cohorts.
Where this research is happening
-
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Liu, Yanhong — Baylor College of Medicine
- Study coordinator: Liu, Yanhong
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Predicting Immunotherapy Success for Lung Cancer
This project looks at bacteria inside tumors and immune cells to help predict which lung cancer patients will respond best to immunotherapy.
-
Understanding how gut bacteria and immune cells affect lung cancer treatment response
This study is looking at how the bacteria in lung tumors and the immune cells around them can help predict how well patients with advanced lung cancer will respond to immunotherapy, so we can better understand who might benefit from this treatment.
-
Biomarkers to predict and improve immunotherapy response in lung cancer
This grant aims to find gene-based markers that predict which NSCLC patients will benefit from immunotherapy and to uncover ways to make treatment work better for those who don’t respond.
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Improving immunotherapy for lung cancer
A team at Emory University is exploring ways to boost how well PD-1–targeted therapies work for people with non-small cell lung cancer.
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Targeting GARP-TGFβ to Improve Immunotherapy in NSCLC
A new antibody approach aims to block a key TGFβ-related pathway in the tumor environment to help people with non-small cell lung cancer respond better to therapy.
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Targeting DHX9 to boost viral-like immune response in Small Cell Lung Cancer
A scientist team is testing whether blocking a protein called DHX9 can make aggressive small cell lung cancer more visible to the immune system and more responsive to immunotherapy.
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.