Thomas Urban Marron, MD, PhD, CRI Clinical Innovator Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Area of Research: Lung Cancer Dr. Marron’s clinical trial aims to investigate the effect of IL-4 blockage in combination with PD-1 inhibition in the neoadjuvant setting for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Recently, Dr. Marron found that IL-4, a cytokine classically associated with allergic disease, is produced within lung tumor lesions, and controls the development and differentiation of myeloid cells in the bone marrow and lung lesions. These observations were made initially in resected, treatment-naïve NSCLC from patients, and were recapitulated in murine models of lung cancer. Building on these findings, Dr. Marron, who has extensive experience in the neoadjuvant setting, aims to elucidate whether the combination of anti-PD-1 cemiplimab and anti-IL-4 dupilumab can reduce tumor recurrence after surgery in this patient population. Furthermore, this trial provides a unique opportunity to study the treatment effect on cancer samples obtained during tumor resection, allowing to conduct state-of-the-art translational analysis to measure the impact of IL-4 blockade on tumor infiltrating and circulating myeloid cells. In addition, Dr. Marron has an ongoing clinical trial testing this immunotherapy combo in advanced NSCLC patients that previously have progressed under standard anti-PD(L)1 therapy. Projects and Grants Reversing pro-tumorigenic type-2 immunity with combined pre-operative IL-4Ralpha and PD-1 blockade for non-small cell lung cancer Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai | Lung Cancer | 2023 The effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and chemo-immunotherapy on the NSCLC tumor microenvironment Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai | Lung Cancer | 2019
