Lee Lab
Principal Investigator: Hyun-Sung Lee
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX)
Primary Subfield: Molecular & Cell Bio
Recruitment Status: ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) presents a significant challenge in oncology due to its rarity, lethality, and heterogeneity. This complexity necessitates the development of innovative therapeutic strategies, particularly in light of the partial effectiveness and resistance issues associated with current immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Our research addresses these challenges by focusing on the identification and validation of liquid biomarkers to enable personalized treatment strategies and improve patient outcomes in MPM. Recent advancements in ICIs have offered new hope, with monotherapy showing about a 20% objective response rate, which can be significantly improved with combination therapies. However, resistance to these treatments remains a substantial barrier, affecting approximately two-thirds of MPM patients. We have identified key prognostic factors such as tumor PD-L1 expression, which is associated with unfavorable survival after conventional treatment without ICIs, and the beneficial impact of tertiary lymphoid structures, immune triads, intact 9p21.3 loci, and low soluble mesothelin-related peptide (SMRP) levels on ICI response. We…
Active NIH Awards
- 5U01NS134348-12: UDN Diagnostic Center of Excellence at Baylor College of Medicine (2026)
- 3U01NS134348-12S1: UDN Diagnostic Center of Excellence at Baylor College of Medicine (2026)
- 1R01CA314931-01: Liquid multiomics for personalized systemic treatment in malignant pleural mesothelioma (2026)
- 5R21AI159379-02: NOVEL HUMORAL AND CELLULAR BIOMARKERS OF AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES CAUSED BY IMMUNOTHERAPY (2024)
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