Clinical Trial Aims to Unlock the Origins of Lung Cancer  

WASHINGTON and BOSTON, April 17, 2024 – In a promising step forward, GO2 for Lung Cancer (GO2), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Dana-Farber), and the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI), GO2’s medical research consortium, announced a major expansion of landmark research studying genetic risk for developing lung cancer. 

The ORIGINS INITIATIVE is GO2’s multi-year, multi-million-dollar endeavor seeking to uncover the underlying causes of inherited risk of lung cancer. This research platform builds upon earlier novel research conducted by GO2, ALCMI, and Dana-Farber, launched in 2010 and recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study identified a predisposition in the EGFR-T790M marker.  

The clinical research arm of the ORIGINS INITIATIVE is called INHERIT. It is the next round of patient-driven clinical research that will include additional markers of genetic risk and significantly more people. It is designed to track participants over an approximately five-year window to improve predicting lung cancer risk for those with certain genetics and a family history of lung cancer. INHERIT is open to anyone with lung cancer who also has a strong family history of lung cancer or certain genetics that may be associated with lung cancer risk. Additionally, those who do not have lung cancer but have an extended family history of lung cancer and/or certain genetics could be eligible. 

“This vital research will delve deeper into increasing our understanding of the inherited components and genetic changes that may predispose people to greater risk for lung cancer,” said GO2 President & CEO Laurie Ambrose. “This has been a long-standing and primary research focus of ours for years and we could not be more excited to expand our patient-driven partnership to achieve transformational change for our community.” 

The genetic risk that contributes to breast, ovarian, and colon cancer has been well studied, but much less is known about inherited risk for lung cancer. The disease can run in families or develop in people at early ages and without exposure to tobacco products. Some people may have underlying genetic changes or mutations that may have been inherited from one or both parents that put them at higher risk. 

“Dana-Farber is excited to build on the momentum of the EGFR T790M work and expand our collaborative efforts to increase our understanding of the genetic risk for developing lung cancer,” said Principal Investigator Pasi A. Jänne, M.D., Ph.D. He is the director of the Chen-Huang Center for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancers at Dana-Farber.  

Co-Investigator Jaclyn LoPiccolo, M.D., Ph.D. added, “We look forward to seeing how lung cancer presents in certain people or families with elevated genetic risk, how changes in lung cancer tumors occur in these people, and ways to better predict lung cancer risk for certain groups of people.” Dr. LoPiccolo is an attending physician in thoracic oncology at Dana-Farber.  

“Our collaborative partnership is uniquely positioned with all the necessary assets to accelerate scientific breakthroughs to improve prevention, screening, treatment and ultimately increased survival for people who are at risk,” ALCMI Executive Director Richard Erwin said.  

Find more information about the study and how to enroll here.