Research Cures Lung Cancer

Just a decade ago, the outlook for someone diagnosed with lung cancer was grim. Today, the survival rates have dramatically increased. In fact, the mortality rate for lung cancer is falling at a rate that exceeds every other cancer — and the numbers continue to drop every year.

This momentum is a direct result of groundbreaking research and clinical trials. We now utilize therapies that target specific types of lung cancer. We have personalized immunotherapies that reignite the body’s natural defenses. We have advanced screening technology to detect lung cancer biomarkers at the earliest stages. Lung cancer vaccines are on the horizon.

A lung cancer diagnosis now comes with more hope, and that’s due to the collective effort of researchers, clinicians, and patients who join clinical trials. Together, we're advancing our understanding of lung cancer to make treatment more impactful for everyone.

The End Lung Cancer Now Research Toolkit is a set of easy-to-use resources created to help people better understand how cancer research and clinical trials work.

Each part of the Toolkit is designed to make information clear and useful for anyone touched by cancer — patients, families, caregivers, and even healthcare professionals.

From guiding patients through the basics of clinical trials, to equipping physicians with practical communication skills, to offering an interactive game that brings research roles and stages to life, the Toolkit empowers all community members to better understand and actively participate in the journey from scientific discovery to patient care.

Together, these resources aim to build confidence, encourage conversations, and help everyone feel more connected to the progress being made in cancer research.

This resource is a comprehensive guide to help patients better understand clinical trials: what they are, why participation matters, potential benefits, who to talk to, and how to find reliable information.  Available both online and in print, this resource empowers patients and familes with reliable information to help make confident, informed decisions alongside their care team.

Download the Patient’s Guide to Clinical Trials

This educational video series is designed for medical students, residents, fellows, and early-career physicians. Across five episodes, real oncologists and ELCN advocates model effective ways to discuss clinical trials with patients.  Each episode features a real story from someone affected by lung cancer, helping humanize what clinical trials truly mean.

Accelerating breakthroughs in lung cancer research

In 2024, a transformative gift established the Tom and Julie Wood Center for Lung Cancer Research at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. The new center is the hub for accelerating IU’s efforts in basic science research to understand the complexities of lung cancer at a cellular level, develop innovative lung cancer drugs, support early-phase clinical trials for IU-developed treatments, and expand the lung cancer precision genomics program.

What we’re working on

• Developing an online community lung cancer screening tool
• Expanding lung cancer screenings and lung cancer clinical trial access and accrual specifically for military veterans across Indiana
• Expanding the criteria for lung cancer screening to other high-risk populations who don’t currently meet screening criteria
• Improving survival rates after surgery with an immunotherapy drug called pembrolizumab
• Evaluating stigma in patients with lung cancer and other smoking-related cancers, such as kidney, bladder, and pancreatic cancers
• Creating a lung cancer tissue biorepository
• Developing a molecule to disrupt the DNA repair pathways that allow lung cancer cells to replicate
• Investigating therapeutic resistance in lung cancers that have various combinations of mutations
• Learning how a protein called IL-9 and an enzyme called Arg1 influence immune cell function

Read the latest lung cancer research update