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September 25, 2014
News Release
Alicia Reale
Department of Marketing and
Communications
11100 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106
216-844-5158
[email protected]
New Research Outlines Promising Therapies for Small Cell Lung Cancer
Researchers from University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center Publish New Findings
CLEVELAND: Two recently published studies by a research team at University Hospitals (UH) Case
Medical Center Seidman Cancer Center have the potential to advance treatments for small cell lung
cell cancer (SCLC). This aggressive form of lung cancer has seen no treatment advances in 30 years
and “is a disease in urgent need of new drug therapies,” write the study’s authors.
“In small cell lung cancer, which impacts about 30-40,000 people each year in the United States, there
has been no therapeutic progress and very little research,” says Afshin Dowlati, MD, lead author and
Director of the Center for Cancer Drug Development at UH Seidman Cancer Center. “Additionally,
there are no approved targeted therapies for the disease. These studies lay the foundation for future
research aimed at finding important new treatments for this highly malignant cancer.”
A study titled, RET Mutation and Expression in Small Cell Lung Cancer, was published in the
September issue of Journal of Thoracic Oncology and found a new mutation in SCLC which may play
a role in the disease’s development. The researchers found that the genetic mutation, called RET
(rearranged during transfection), was linked to rapid cell growth.
The research team examined specimens in its database of metastatic SCLC tumors, one of the largest
databases of its kind in the country. They found that the RET mutant protein was potentially linked to
faster-growing cells that were sensitive to ponatinib and vandetanib, two new targeted drug therapies.
Future clinical trials for patients with the RET mutation are planned to further validate the data.
“We were encouraged to find that these two cancer-fighting therapies are potentially effective at
stopping cancer cell growth in certain small cell lung cancers,” says Dr. Dowlati, who is Professor of
Medicine – Hematology/Oncology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and a
member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. “These findings have the potential to give cancer
physicians a new tool to more effectively tailor treatments for patients.”
The other study, published in PLOS One, outlines a novel approach to identify new drug therapies for
SCLC based on tumors’ genomic profiles. The research team discovered new molecular targets for
treating the disease by extracting data from SCLC tumors to examine drug sensitivity. Through this
analysis, they outlined a promising new approach to predict which cancer-fighting drugs would be the
most broadly effective at slowing tumor growth.
“This study enabled us to identify which drugs may be the most useful in which types of tumors,” says
Dr. Dowlati. “Small cell lung cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers and these studies have
yielded small but important therapeutic insights into this disease.” Dr. Dowlati is additionally the
Rosalie and Morton A. Cohen Chair in Oncology and the Lucile and Robert H. Gries Endowed
Director, Center for Cancer Drug Development at UH Seidman Cancer Center.
Both studies were funded by the UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the Case Comprehensive Cancer
Center at Case Western Reserve.
About University Hospitals
University Hospitals, the second largest employer in Northeast Ohio with 25,000 employees, serves the needs of patients
through an integrated network of 15 hospitals, 28 outpatient health centers and primary care physician offices in 15
counties. At the core of our $3.5 billion health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center, ranked among
America’s 50 best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report in all 12 methodology-ranked specialties. The primary affiliate
of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, UH Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious
clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopaedics,
radiology, neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, digestive health, transplantation and genetics. Its main
campus includes UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; UH
MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCIdesignated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. For more information, go to
www.uhhospitals.org