Project Grant R21CA288901

This $244,228 Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.394 - Cancer Detection and Diagnosis Research) supports research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to develop a comprehensive proteomics-driven approach for accurately mapping lung cancer patient tumors to preclinical models.

The key objectives are to: 1) Expand proteomic profiling of lung cancer patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models using reverse-phase protein array (RPPA) technology, which has been used to characterize ~9,000 tumor and cell line samples, and 2) Build a computational model linking lung cancer patient tumors to preclinical models based on integrated multi-omics data. The expected outcomes include a well-characterized cohort of lung cancer preclinical models with high-quality RPPA data, a mechanistic correspondence map connecting patient tumors to models, and the identification of novel lung cancer vulnerabilities for clinical evaluation. This project aims to generate a unique lung cancer proteome resource and establish an accurate, comprehensive molecular mapping between patient tumors and preclinical models to enable more effective development of novel therapeutic strategies.