Monday, December 8, 2025 12/8/2025

R21: A novel antibody-drug conjugate for treatment of squamous cell lung carcinoma

Award Number: R21CA273645
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/01/2022
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2025

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

R21: A novel antibody-drug conjugate for treatment of squamous cell lung carcinoma - A novel antibody-drug conjugate for treatment of squamous cell lung carcinoma Project Summary With few available treatments, lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has a 5-year survival of only 21%. This proposal outlines a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapy for lung SCC, which targets and delivers a highly potent chemotherapy monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) to G protein-coupled receptor 87 (GPR87)- overexpressing SCC tumors. ADCs combine the advantages of the high specificity of a targeting antibody and the high potency of a cytotoxic drug, and therefore, have the potential to improve the efficacy of the drug and reduce off-target toxicity. We will employ a new reliable approach for drug conjugation that utilizes supramolecular assembly of coiled coil peptides. This method allows site-specific, uniform loading of two drug molecules at the Fc region per antibody and maintains targeting specificity of the Fab region. The strong binding affinity of the coiled coils enhances ADC stability and prevents premature release of the drug. Moreover, the approach allows facile pairing of antibodies and drugs under mild aqueous conditions. The proposed experiments will test the hypothesis that an αGPR87 antibody-MMAE conjugate will target lung tumors, reduce systemic toxicity of MMAE, and extend survival, compared to a conventional ADC and MMAE alone in a SCC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model. Importantly, well-characterized materials and rigorous experimental designs are established in this proposal with essential cross-disciplinary collaborations and expertise. The aims of this exploratory and developmental proposal are as follow. Aim 1 determines immunogenicity of the ADC components, and plasma stability, tumor binding and cytotoxicity of the ADC in human lung cancer and normal cell lines. Aim 2 evaluates biodistribution, PK, systemic toxicity and efficacy of the ADC in a SCC PDX model. Successful development of this ADC delivery platform will generate a novel targeted therapy with minimal off-target toxicity for SCC. Our supramolecular self-assembly conjugation approach also provides a versatile conjugation strategy applicable to other antibody-drug pairs for treatment of other cancers and diseases.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = -$175 )
2026	2023	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY	1 SILBER WAY	BOSTON	MA	02215	SUFFOLK	USA	Cancer Treatment Research	000	2	11/18/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$175
														Subtotal = -$175

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $226,784 )
2023	2023	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY	1 SILBER WAY	BOSTON	MA	02215	SUFFOLK	USA	Cancer Treatment Research	000	2	8/15/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$226,784
														Subtotal = $226,784

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $192,844 )
2022	2022	TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY	1 SILBER WAY	BOSTON	MA	02215	SUFFOLK	USA	Cancer Treatment Research	000	1	7/26/2022	NEW	$192,844
														Subtotal = $192,844

Grand Total All Awards = $419,453

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

R21: A novel antibody-drug conjugate for treatment of squamous cell lung carcinoma

Award Number: R21CA273645

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/01/2022

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2025

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer