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FRIMEDBIO-Fri prosj.st. med.,helse,biol

Lung cancer - characterization of biological factors for use in diagnosis, prognostication and therapy

Awarded: NOK 5.6 mill.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death. Treatment results depend on stage, but are overall poor, due to the fact that most patients are diagnosed with advanced disease, but also lack of understanding of involved cellular and molecular di sease mechanisms. From 2005, all lung cancer surgery in "Helse Sør" was centralized to RH-HF, meaning more than 100 primary lung cancer resections annually. A biobank project collecting tumor and adjacent normal tissue, blood and bone marrow has been init iated and approved by the authorities. Updated clinical information is stored in a database. At present, the following projects utilize material from the biobank: a) Protein based serum-biomarkers hold great promise as inexpensive diagnostic tools. We hyp othesize that tumor cells and the reactive host stroma secrete proteins that can be detected by antibodies coupled to oligonucleotides, thereby utilizing PCR technology for protein quantification. The method is sensitive and requires minute sample volumes . b) Metastasis is responsible for most cancer related deaths and understanding the basic mechanisms involved in the process is necessary to identify novel methods to eliminate the detached cells. We intend to isolate and characterize disseminated tumor cells in attempts to provide prognostic information, and guidance for therapy decision and response. c) Lung cancer is a heterogenous group of cancer. We participate in international efforts performing molecular profiling to identify subgroups of patients that will benefit from certain therapies, that are prone to metastasize or that are supposed to perform well. The overall aim is to develop more individual treatment protocols. d) The cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis has not been proven for lung cancer and we plan to examine whether such cells exists. Possible CSC markers will be sought identified and mRNA isolated from the cells will be delivered to dendritic cells and used in vaccination protocols.

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FRIMEDBIO-Fri prosj.st. med.,helse,biol

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