MYC and the clock in non-small cell lung cancer

MYC is amplified in lung cancer, but does it disrupt the clock in these tumors, and does this play a role in tumor progression?  Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the deadliest cancer in the United States, with the American Cancer Society estimating about 234,000 new cases in 2018, and 154,000 deaths.  At least 8% of NSCLC has amplified MYC (accounting for more than 18,000 new cases per year), and while new targeted therapies for NSLCLC have entered the clinic in recent years, none of these therapies target MYC-amplified cancers, and the status of the molecular clock in these cancers is not currently known.

Given that we have observed that MYC disrupts the molecular clock, understanding how MYC affects the clock and metabolism in lung cancer may improve our understanding of the potential vulnerabilities of these tumors.  We will use cell and animal models of MYC-driven lung tumorigenesis to understand the role of MYC in the molecular clock and metabolic oscillations in this disease, and in particular, if MYC disruption of the clock is a feature of tumor progression. 

« back to all projects