Dr. Doebele Research Update

FINDING A CURE Millions of people around the U.S. are battling cancer, and millions more are caretakers and loved ones. It’s a burden on nearly every aspect of life, and at this rate, we will all be touched by cancer either as loved ones or patients. Faculty at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus are working to change this future and make the narrative much brighter. We are creating a future in which a cancer diagnosis is no longer a death sentence – where a once-devastating battle with cancer is replaced by targeted therapies that are more effective and cause fewer side effects than chemotherapy.

Improving Therapies: Robert Doebele, MD, PhD

In Dr. Doebele’s laboratory, researchers are working to identify various genetic abnormalities in lung cancer to improve treatment options for patients. This work is translating into targeted therapies that attack the cancer at a genetic level, ensuring patients receive the most effective treatment the first time.

Under Dr. Doebele’s direction, the clinical trial for the abnormal gene NTRK1 has proven remarkably successful. This clinical trial started with one biopsy in 2012 that Dr. Doebele was able to use to grow an importable cell line leading to new drug discovery and a clinical trial, LOXO-101.

Researchers are hopeful that LOXO-101 will soon lead to an FDA-approved therapy that doctors can prescribe.

Dr. Doebele and his team are also working to better understand drugresistant tumors and to develop treatments for effective alternatives for patients. Recently, Dr. Doebele’s lab has been successful in generating new cancer models that will be used in research on drug resistance.

1.6+ MILLION PEOPLE DIAGNOSED

WITH LUNG

CANCER IN 2016

Robert Doebele, MD, PhD • Joined CU in 2008 as a member of the Thoracic Malignancies Program • Co-founder and co-director of the University of Colorado Molecular Tumor Board • Co-PI of the University of Colorado Lung Cancer SPORE • His lab is focused on improving therapies for lung cancer patients

LUNG

CANCER IS THE

SECOND

M O S T P R E VA L E N T

CANCER IN MEN & WOMEN

Incubating Cancer Cells for Research Collaboration

Over the past several years, Dr. Doebele’s team has become a national leader in harvesting and incubating cancer models that are used in research labs around the country and the world. Because of his particular expertise, Dr. Doebele is collaborating with labs at institutions such as the University of California Davis, University of California San Francisco, MD Anderson, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, University of Auckland, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, the University of Cologne and many others.

With your philanthropic support, Dr. Doebele and his team have started to assemble a network to gather biopsies from patients in Colorado and around the U.S., so researchers at CU Anschutz can collect and analyze samples with various genetic makeups. With additional investments, they will be able to collect samples remotely and better characterize these cancer models. By creating a library of models with different genetic mutations, Dr. Doebele’s lab will be able to directly research, or support other researchers in exploring, nearly every kind of cancer and create therapies targeting countless specific genetic abnormalities.

Cancer Institute of New Jersey University of California Davis University of California San Francisco

University of Color ado Anschutz Medical Campus

Progress Fueled by Philanthropy

The work that Dr. Doebele is doing today is informing other cancer areas as well. One of the most influential changes in the cancer field in the past several years is a new understanding that the genetic makeup of cancer matters more than a tumor’s location in the body. The genetic mapping work in Dr. Doebele’s lab is impacting the entire cancer field, and providing new methodologies for developing therapies.

Your philanthropic leadership is accelerating discovery and attracting the additional funding that is crucial to our success.

We are grateful that you have chosen to invest in us.

Thank you for fueling research that is informing next-generation targeted therapies for lung cancer. Thank you for your vote of confidence in the researchers who will transform lung cancer care for generations. Thank you for joining our journey toward a cure.

MD Anderson Cancer Center

University of Colorado Lung Cancer SPORE CU Anschutz is home to one of three lung cancer Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) in the country, placing it among a coveted group of institutions with the resources to fast-track promising basic science research findings.

Dr. Paul Bunn initially secured the funding in 1992 and has consistently maintained the status with over $45 million in support. The SPORE grant is designed to propel new drugs for molecularly targeted subtypes of lung cancer, and to take advances

Angela DellaSalle | Senior Director of Development Office of Advancement 303 724 6334 (office) | 303 523 7190 (mobile) angela.dellasalle@ucdenver.edu | supportcuanschutz.ucdenver.edu

from the lab to the public as quickly as possible.