# Targeting Integrins in Lung Cancer

> **NIH VA I01** · VA NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HEALTH CARE SYS · 2022 · —

## Abstract

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related deaths in US veterans and worldwide. Molecularly
targeted therapy and immunotherapy are two recent major breakthroughs in lung cancer treatment that have
been shown to extend life and increase cure, but each of them benefits ~20% of non-small cell lung cancer
(NSCLC) patients. Novel therapeutic strategies are needed to identify new treatment targets and develop and
validate the assays that select the appropriate patients for molecularly targeted therapy and cancer
immunotherapy and monitor antitumor responses. We have recently generated and characterized high-affinity
peptide ligands for targeting tumor-specific and lymphocyte-specific integrins on the surface of multiple
epithelial cancer types including NSCLC and microvesicle exosomes derived from the membranes of specific
cancer or immune cells. We hypothesize that these high affinity peptide ligands can be used to improve the
sensitivity of detecting tumor- and immune cell-specific biomarkers in lung cancer patients. The overall
objective of this proposal is to develop easily operable, low cost, sensitive, multiplex assays to improve the
sensitivity of current molecular and immune biomarker tests, in a single blood draw or thoracentesis for clinical
decision-making in cancer treatment selection and monitoring. We will use biofluid samples collected from
patients with advanced NSCLC under IRB-approved protocol to optimize our novel in vitro diagnostic
platforms. In specific aim 1, we develop an assay for sensitive detection and enrichment of tumor cells from
malignant body fluids of NSCLC patients using LXY30 (for α3β1 integrin). In specific aim 2, we will develop a
novel in vitro platform for rapid and simple isolation of tumor-specific exosomes yielding high quantity and
quality tumor DNA to increase the success of clinical molecular biomarker assays. In specific aim 3, we will
develop a novel in vitro platform for rapid and simple isolation of functional immune cells in the blood from
NSCLC patients for flow cytometry, T cell receptor diversity, and single cell genomic characterization. We
anticipate that the clinical application of our novel, integrated, simple, low cost, in vitro diagnostic platform in a
serial noninvasive “liquid biopsy” can select the most effective treatment for cancer patients in real time and
thus has great potential to advance individual cancer patient care towards the goal of precision medicine.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10341045
- **Project number:** 5I01BX003895-02
- **Recipient organization:** VA NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HEALTH CARE SYS
- **Principal Investigator:** Tianhong Li
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-02-01 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10341045

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10341045, Targeting Integrins in Lung Cancer (5I01BX003895-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10341045. Licensed CC0.

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