Investigation of immune evasion mechanisms in STK11 inactivated NSCLC

The purpose of this research is to provide new knowledge of immune evasion mechanisms in STK11 inactivated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a subtype comprising up to 30% of NSCLC that is associated with poor survival and resistance to current immunotherapies.

As a starting point we will perform in-depth mass spectrometry (MS) analysis on a large cohort of NSCLC samples (n=197) already characterized by broad spatial immunophenotyping.

The generated proteomics data will give us a unique opportunity to investigate cancer signaling and its impact on the interplay between cancer cells and the immune system.

Our focus here is NSCLC with STK11 inactivation, where we will investigate immune infiltration patterns in relation to expression of proteins with a potential role in immune evasion.

Further, we will investigate upstream signaling that may contribute to immune evasion in model systems and relate our findings back to the data from clinical samples.

For selected proteins, we will perform a detailed mechanistic investigation of their role in the interplay between cancer cells and immune cells.

Collectively, the generated data will elevate our understanding of immune evasion mechanisms in STK11 inactivated NSCLC.

Our final goal with this research is to identify novel biomarkers to predict sensitivity to currently used immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) as well as novel targets for immuno-therapy to promote precision medicine in NSCLC.