Powerful New Advances in Lung
Disease Screening:
Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in the United States, with more than 228,000 people diagnosed each year. Among those diagnosed, 10-15% will be among people who have never smoked and don’t have risk factors for lung cancer. The five-year survival rate for lung cancer is only 19%, however, if diagnosed before the cancer metastasizes, the survival rate improves dramatically.Smokers, or others known to be at risk for lung cancer, can receive yearly low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans in an attempt to catch lung cancer at the early stage. While that test does effectively reveal small lung tumors, the risk of repeated radiation exposure and the cost of the test mean that CT scans aren’t performed routinely for those not at risk for the disease. A new study in the open access journal Scientific Reports reveals that there may be a better diagnostic tool on the horizon.Research doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital are working to develop biomarkers from blood samples that can be administered during routine physical exams. Co-investigators Leo L. Cheng and David C. Christiani, along with colleagues, paired tumor tissue and blood samples taken at the time of surgery and looked for metabolic markers using high-resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), allowing them to study the chemical composition of tissues. The research team also studied the blood samples of 29 healthy patients as controls.As part of the study, investigators were able to identify common markers between the tissue and blood samples that identified the presence of lung cancer and the subtype of cancer and differentiated between patients with squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma, which need different treatment plans. The marker profiles could also identify those who were in early stage lung cancer, which is more easily treatable, and those with later stage cancers requiring more aggressive treatments.Tests run by the researchers also were able to identify samples that came from patients who lived an average of 41 months after surgery, and those who lived longer. If validated in further studies, this finding may allow doctors to identify patients who could most be helped by experimental treatments or clinical trials. The ultimate goal of the research is to develop a blood test that can be administered for routine lung cancer screening during annual physicals.
