Lung cancer is the common cause of death despite the use of immunotherapies that appear to cure about 20-25% of cases. Immunotherapy is given in hospital every 6 weeks over 2 years and can cause life-threatening autoimmune problems in a small percentage of people.
Consequently, Imperial College, with the help of the Science Café, developed the REFINE-Lung trial to examine whether pembrolizumab could be given less frequently after 6 months of 6-weekly treatment without impacting its efficacy whilst improving patient quality of life.
This trial has now passed its mid-study analysis, and an update will be given.
Patients not eligible for pembrolizumab or patients who have progressed on this treatment still require treatment.
Our team at Imperial has discovered a new molecule (called RSK4) inside several common cancers, including lung and bladder cancer, that plays a critical role in driving the cancer cells to travel and metastasize as well as making them resistant to existing treatments. We have discovered that an existing antibiotic drug can block the activity of this new molecule, thereby preventing lung cancer and bladder cancer cell resistance and metastasis. We would now like the help of the Imperial Science Café audience as we design a new trial to test whether this antibiotic works to block RSK4 in patients.
Speaker: Professor Michael Seckl
For more information please contact Kelly Gleason.