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Comprehensive genomic analysis of small cell lung cancers

Julien Sage, PhD (Fellowship Committee Member, Damon Runyon Scholar ‘05-‘07), of Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, with a team of international colleagues, sequenced the genomes of 110 small cell lung cancers (SCLC), one of the deadliest human cancers. These studies confirmed that loss of the two tumor suppressor genes, Rb and p53, is required for tumor initiation. Importantly, they also identified new therapeutic targets such as the Notch signaling pathway. This first comprehensive study of genome alterations in SCLC uncovered several key biological processes and identified candidate therapeutic targets for this form of cancer. The results were published in the prestigious journal Nature.