Kicking Cancer's __s! (Part 2)

Dusty speaks with Terri, the creator of KRAS Kickers, a group where researchers, patients, and caregivers come together for greater KRAS lung cancer awareness. Hear the beginning of Terri's story in Kicking Cancer's __s! (Part 1).

“The KRAS community is global," says Terri. "We have patients from around the world who are desperate to get information about what’s going on in KRAS and what people in different parts of the world are dealing with and what a certain treatment may or may not do for them.”

Terri’s vision is to provide current, relevant information about the KRAS research pipeline to patients. She also wants to encourage researchers and help connect them with patients.

“As we get closer to the reality of targeted therapies for KRAS, the need to come together and share knowledge becomes even greater,” she says.

Learn about KRAS

The KRAS biomarker accounts for approximately 25 percent of lung cancers.¹ According to the National Cancer Institute, KRAS is a “gene that makes a protein that is involved in cell signaling pathways that control cell growth, cell maturation, and cell death. The natural, unchanged form of the gene is called wild-type KRAS. Mutated (changed) forms of the KRAS gene have been found in some types of cancer, including non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer.”²

“Every human being has KRAS in their body,” says Terri. “They refer to that as wild type KRAS, which is healthy, good KRAS. My KRAS stopped going on and off and it just got stuck in the on position.

“One study I saw said KRAS was responsible for one in seven cancers -- period. They realized that KRAS is the primary cause of three of the four deadliest cancers: lung, colorectal, and pancreatic. And KRAS is the most common type of mutation in lung cancer.

Dawn of hope

Although discovered decades ago, KRAS was considered undruggable for 40 years. Now, however, we are on the brink of change. Drugs targeting KRAS are currently showing promise in clinical trials.

Scientific progress takes time, though, just as with other cancer biomarkers that now have an array of therapeutic options. Finally, hope is on the horizon and researchers are making progress; but there is no magic bullet for KRAS patients.

“If you’re going to have KRAS, now is the time to have it, because now there is hope,” says Terri. “After 40 years of being considered undruggable, they kept looking because this is a big problem they want to solve. Finally, there was a huge breakthrough just a few years ago.

“Now, within KRAS,” says Terri, “there are different subtypes. I’m not a scientist but this is the way I understand it. I think of them as neighbors, because it’s like different strands...different numbers -- like a neighborhood address. There’s KRAS 12A, G12C, G12D. Mine happens to be KRAS G12D. It just means where it is and what the composition is.”

Read the continuation of Terri's story in Kicking Cancer's __s! (Part 3).