Boston University researchers have identified a biochemical pathway in cells lining the airways of smokers whose activity rises before lung cancer develops, making it a potential target for an early detection test and possible treatment.
Writing in today's ScienceTranslational Medicine, Dr. Avrum Spira and his colleagues from the BU School of Medicine and the University of Utah say they had already shown that a particular sequence of genetic activity, called the PI3K pathway, is heightened in patients with lung cancer. Their new findings suggest that this activity precedes tumor formation.
Lung cancer, which is the most common fatal cancer, is usually diagnosed in its later stages when treatment is less effective. Scientists have been searching for a way to determine who among the 10 to 20 percent of smokers and former smokers will go on to develop lung cancer so they can perhaps be followed more closely and their cancers caught earlier.
Spira's team analyzed cell samples taken from 200 patients in Boston and Salt Lake City who were being evaluated for lung disease. People who had higher levels of PI3K activity were more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer than people with normal levels.
http://www.boston.com/news/health/blog/2010/04/clue_to_lung_ca.html