FCF is please to announce that it has awarded a new grant to Mark Yarchoan, MD, and Waqar Arif, MD, of Johns Hopkins University to identify actionable antibody-drug conjugate targets in FLC. Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are an emerging class of targeted cancer therapies sometimes described as “smart chemotherapy.” They combine an antibody that recognizes a protein on the surface of cancer cells with a potent anti-cancer drug, allowing treatment to be delivered directly to tumor cells while reducing damage to healthy tissues. ADCs have transformed the treatment of several cancers, and more than 100 ADC programs are currently in development across oncology.

Many cancers display distinctive proteins on their cell surface that can be used as targets for ADCs. However, because fibrolamellar is a rare disease, researchers have never systematically evaluated which cell-surface proteins might be suitable targets in FLC.

This project will address that gap by examining a collection of FLC tumor samples from FCF’s and Johns Hopkins’ biobanks to systematically measure the expression of several clinically relevant ADC targets. The investigators will determine how frequently these targets are expressed in FLC tumors and identify which may be promising opportunities for therapeutics.

Importantly, many ADC targets are already being pursued in programs for other cancers. By identifying which are present in FLC, the study could help identify therapies already under development that could be quickly repurposed for patients with FLC.