Derick Lau M.D., Ph.D.

Lay Description

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death. Most cases of lung cancer are caused by cigarette smoking. However, about 10% of lung cancer occurs in people who have never smoked. The type of lung cancer that commonly occurs in non-smokers is called bronchioalveolar carcinoma (BAC). This type of lung cancer often affects middle-age women and its incidence is on the rise in recent years. The cause of BAC is unknown. Patients with BAC often present with advanced disease and treatment options are very limited. Recently, new therapies targeting specific cancer cells have been successfully used to treat breast cancer and lymphoma cancer. We believe that new treatment specific for BAC lung cancer can also be found using the technology of ‘combinatorial chemistry’ invented in our laboratory. We will use this technology to identify proteins on BAC lung cancer cells and find chemicals specific for these proteins. Our ultimate goal is to develop these chemicals as specific treatment for BAC lung cancer.

Scientific Abstract

Bronchioalveolar carcinoma (BAC) is a sub-type of adenocarcinoma of the lung that commonly occurs in middle-age women without a history of smoking. Patients with BAC often present with advanced disease and treatment options are very limited. We hypothesize that novel peptide ligands can be identified for cell-surface receptors specific for BAC using the methods of ‘one-bead one-peptide’ combinatorial chemistry and ‘cell-growth-on-bead’ assay. We believe that these novel peptide ligands potentially can be developed into effective diagnostic and therapeutic agents for improving survival of patients with BAC. The specific aims of this proposal are formulated as follows: 1. To design and synthesize one-bead one-peptide combinatorial libraries for screening novel peptide ligands specific for BAC cells; 2. To screen, from these libraries, for novel peptide ligands that specifically promote cell adhesion of BAC cells; 3. To study the structure-activity of these novel peptide ligands in order to identify motifs essential for cell adhesion; 4. To modify these novel ligand peptides to optimize their biological activity and pharmacokinetic property; 5. To investigate tumor specificity of these peptide ligands using human tumor specimens; and 6. To identify cell-surface receptors specific for interaction with the novel peptide ligands in BAC. The knowledge gained from this project will support development of these novel peptide ligands into potential diagnostic and therapeutic agents for BAC.