Congratulations to Chang-Lung Lee, PhD, who was awarded a $2.5 million, five-year R01 grant by the NIH to support the investigation of novel therapeutic strategies that will prevent or reduce radiation-induced oral mucositis without sacrificing tumor control. Dr. Lee is PI on the grant, which runs through July 2028; co-investigators are Mark Oldham, PhD, and previous faculty member Yvonne Mowery, MD, PhD, now at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Radiation therapy plays an integral role in treating human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, the sixth most common cancer worldwide. However, head and neck radiation therapy is associated with significant toxicity – termed "radiation-induced oral mucositis" – in the oral mucosa, the mucous membrane lining of the mouth.
"The overall goal of this R01 aims to develop novel therapeutic strategies that will prevent or reduce radiation-induced oral mucositis by transiently enhancing p53-mediated signaling in response to acute DNA damage in normal oral mucosa, " said Dr. Lee. "With the support from this R01 grant, my long-term goal is to establish a research program focusing on dissecting the mechanisms underlying the repair and regeneration of oral epithelium following severe radiation injury using genetically engineered mouse models and single-cell sequencing."