Treating small cell lung cancer that stops responding to therapy
Official title: Overcoming Therapy Resistance in SCLC
Funded at Ut Southwestern Medical Center · NIH-11286788 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project tests new ways to make small cell lung cancer that has become resistant to chemotherapy, radiation, or immunotherapy more responsive to treatment.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Ut Southwestern Medical Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Dallas, United States) |
| Project start | March 1, 2024 |
| Project end | February 28, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $498,927 |
| NIH project number | 5R01CA289500-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11286788 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People with small cell lung cancer—especially those whose cancer relapsed after chemotherapy or did not respond to immunotherapy—would be the most likely candidates.
✕Less likely to help
Patients with other types of cancer or those whose SCLC is already cured by standard treatment may not benefit directly from this research.
What this research studies
From a patient's point of view, researchers are working to understand why small cell lung cancer often comes back after standard treatments and why some tumors do not trigger an immune attack. They focus on how cancer cells handle DNA damage and replication stress and how that lets them survive treatment. The team will use lab models and human tumor material to try combinations of radiation, immune approaches, and drugs that block the cancer's repair pathways. The goal is to turn immunologically “cold” tumors into “hot” ones that the immune system and existing therapies can better control.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to new combination treatments that keep SCLC controlled longer or restore sensitivity to existing therapies.
How similar studies have gone: Radiation and immunotherapy have helped some lung cancers but have shown limited and inconsistent benefit in SCLC, so this approach builds on known ideas but remains experimental.
Where this research is happening
-
Ut Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Akbay, Esra — Ut Southwestern Medical Center
- Study coordinator: Akbay, Esra
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Role of Twice-Daily Thoracic Radiotherapy in Limited-Stage SCLC in the Immunotherapy Era
This project looks at whether giving twice-daily radiotherapy for limited-stage small cell lung cancer still helps patients today who are also getting immunotherapy.
-
SCLC model creation and therapy testing
A cancer research program using mouse models and engineered human and mouse cells to study small cell lung cancer and test potential treatments.
-
Impact of genetic changes on SCLC subtypes and treatment response
This project explores how specific genetic changes in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) affect the disease and how it responds to targeted drugs.
-
Repair mechanisms for DNA lesions in small cell lung cancer
Researchers are studying how cancer cells with small cell lung cancer respond or become resistant to treatment by looking at the ways DNA damage is repaired.
-
Understanding how replication stress affects a hard-to-treat breast cancer gene patients may carry
This grant explores how certain breast cancer gene defects interact with replication stress to influence cancer cell survival and treatment resistance, with potential implications for therapies in patients with BRCA2-related breast cancer.
-
Replication Stress Sensing Defects in Small Cell Lung Cancer
A study in people might not be involved directly, but it aims to understand why a common lung cancer responds poorly to therapy over time by examining how cancer cells handle replication stress.
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.