# Tumor-specific autoantibodies for SCLC early detection

> **NIH NIH R01** · FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER · 2024 · $406,116

## Abstract

ABSTRACT/SUMMARY
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is one of the few malignancies with such poor outcomes that it meets the definition
of a “recalcitrant” cancer, accounting for 30,000 American lives each year with five-year survival rates of just
~7%. Somewhat lost in these dismal statistics is the fact that patients diagnosed early (limited stage) display
vastly superior survival metrics when compared to those diagnosed late (extensive stage). Unfortunately, only a
minority of cases are identified at limited stage, and the computed tomography (CT) screening approaches
capable of early detection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have not proven effective for SCLC. We will
employ a novel two-mode, array based, hybrid plasma marker methodology capable of detecting autoantibody-
autoantigen complex and unbound autoantibody markers for SCLC early detection. One of the major problems
with studying SCLC is there are few studies and cohorts that have appropriate plasma samples. We have
accumulated robust biomarker candidates centered around autoantibody-antigen complexes using the
Cardiovascular Health Study (prediagnostic), Fred Hutch Lung Cancer Early Detection and Prevention Clinic,
and Vanderbilt SCLC sample sets and will comprehensively define free autoantibodies levels in these same
cohorts. We propose to test a fixed combination rule combining both autoantibody approaches using all of the
prediagnostic SCLC samples from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, Ovarian
Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO), and the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) cohorts and diagnostic samples
from Moffitt Cancer Center. Using prediagnostic samples allows us to effectively model early detection much
more accurately than after diagnosis occurs, and this is particularly important for SCLC as diagnosis at the
extensive stage is nearly almost always fatal. Part of our analysis will determine how early our autoantibody
marker panel can predict the presence of SCLC and whether a tumor can be observed via CT at that time in
order to evaluate the timing and implementation of our early-detection procedure.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10732773
- **Project number:** 5R01CA243328-06
- **Recipient organization:** FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** A McGarry Houghton
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $406,116
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-12-17 → 2025-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10732773

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10732773, Tumor-specific autoantibodies for SCLC early detection (5R01CA243328-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-14 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10732773. Licensed CC0.

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