(Press-News.org) AURORA, Colo. (Feb. 2, 2012) – Different kinds of lung cancer behave in different ways, suggesting they are fundamentally different diseases. According to a University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in Cancer, the official journal of the American Cancer Society, different subgroups of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) show distinct patterns of spread in the body.
The study looked at 209 patients diagnosed with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer separated into four different molecular subgroups using testing performed by the University of Colorado Molecular Correlates Laboratory (CMOCO): those with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations, v-Ki-ras2 Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS) mutations, anaplastic lymphoma receptor tyrosine kinase (ALK) gene rearrangements or a group without any of these abnormalities.
ALK positive lung cancer was strongly associated with cancers that spread to the linings around the heart and lungs (pericardial and pleural disease). Patients with ALK positive NSCLC were also predisposed to develop liver metastases as were those with an EGFR mutation when the different subgroups were compared.
"In the last few years we have been able to separate lung cancer into different molecular subtypes to help improve outcomes from specific targeted therapies. This study really confirms that these molecular subtypes are manifesting as different diseases in patients," said Robert Doebele, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and CU Cancer Center investigator.
Another University of Colorado study published in the same edition of Cancer drills down on how some of these different molecular subtypes of lung cancer are detected in the first place. Specifically, the study examined the companion diagnostic test for detecting the ALK positive lung cancer cases, called a fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) test. This test is used to select patients for treatment with crizotinib, an ALK inhibitor drug. Now University of Colorado researchers have solved an unanswered question as to why patients who respond to crizotinib only appear to have the ALK change in a fraction of the cells in their cancers.
By looking in detail at the genetic changes present in the cancer cells they came to two major conclusions. First- cell counts below 100 percent in ALK positive tumors reflect the fact the assay misses a proportion of cells and not that the cells are truly missing the ALK change.
Second, the ALK change happens early in the development of the cancer and is likely to be a fundamental driver of the cancer's growth. The study was conducted by D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, the director of the lung cancer clinical program at the CU Cancer Center and University of Colorado Hospital and Marileila Varella Garcia, PhD, professor of medicine, medical oncology and pathology at University of Colorado School of Medicine.
"Knowing that ALK changes are driving the cancer and that they are not actually missing from a significant proportion of the cancer reinforces our understanding of ALK positive lung cancer. It now makes sense why targeting these changes is going to affect a very large proportion of the tumor and explains the dramatic clinical responses seen with crizotinib."
"In order to treat any disease successfully, you have to know what you are really treating," said Camidge." "It is only by understanding lung cancer better that we can hope to improve outcomes in the long term."
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Both studies were funded by the University of Colorado Lung specialized Program of Research Excellence.
The CU Cancer Center's Thoracic Oncology Program is world renowned for its pioneering treatment of lung cancer. The program includes a multidisciplinary team of specialists and subspecialists working together to establish the best treatment plan for each patient. Advanced molecular profiling of a patient's tumor, combined with an extensive array of standard and experimental treatments available through clinical trials has lead to major advances in patient outcomes in the last few years. The program's one-year survival rates for advanced lung cancer consistently run twice as high as the national average. The survival rates at five years run four times higher than the national average.
CU Cancer Center is the lead site for the national Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium, the collaboration of 14 of the nation's elite lung cancer programs. The consortium is profiling ten different molecular abnormalities in lung cancer and pairing them with specific experimental treatments over the next few years.
Please consider supporting the Lung Cancer Colorado Fund. This unique fund is overseen by the physicians and scientists and supports all aspects of the Center's and University of Colorado Hospital's combined fight against lung cancer.
For an appointment with a University of Colorado physician, please call Tiffany Caudill, intake coordinator for the lung cancer program at 720-848-0392 or email tiffany.caudill@uch.edu. To request physician interviews, please call Erika Matich at 303-524-2780 or email erika.matich@ucdenver.edu.
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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Feb. 2, 2012) – Two UAHuntsville faculty members from the College of Business were published today in the prestigious journal Science for their investigation of an important issue in research ethics.
Dr. Allen W. Wilhite, and Dr. Eric A. Fong co-authored a paper on the unethical practices of some journal publications, articulating results from their research to show that some editors coerce authors into adding unnecessary citations to articles in the same journal that is considering publishing the submitted work. Journal editors want to increase ...
PHILADELPHIA (February 2, 2012)— A new study by food safety researchers at Drexel University demonstrates that plasma can be an effective method for killing pathogens on uncooked poultry. The proof-of-concept study was published in the January issue of the Journal of Food Protection.
Although recent high-profile outbreaks of foodborne illness have involved contaminated fresh produce, the most common source of harmful bacteria in food is uncooked poultry and other meat products. The bacteria responsible for most foodborne illnesses, Campylobacter and Salmonella, are found ...
PHILADELPHIA (February 1, 2012)— Rates of diabetes vary widely across developing countries worldwide, according to a new analysis led by Dr. Longjian Liu of Drexel University's School of Public Health.
Worldwide, four in five people with diabetes now live in developing countries. Liu's study found that access to healthcare support for diabetes varied widely in developing countries, and that one in 10 diagnosed cases remain untreated. The study is available online and will appear in a future issue of the journal Diabetic Medicine.
"Diabetes is now one of the most common ...
NEW YORK, February 2, 2012 – Postmenopausal women may be at higher risk of having a stroke than they think.
A new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and colleagues found that traditional risk factors for stroke – such as high cholesterol – are not as accurate at predicting risk in postmenopausal women as previously thought. Instead, researchers say doctors should refocus their attention on triglyceride levels to determine which women are at highest risk of suffering a devastating and potentially fatal cardiovascular event. The study appears online today ...
Internet information giant Google updated ocean data in its Google Earth application this week, reflecting new bathymetry data assembled by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, NOAA researchers and many other ocean mapping groups from around the world.
The newest version of Google Earth includes more accurate imagery in several key areas of ocean using data collected by research cruises over the past three years.
"The original version of Google Ocean was a newly developed prototype map that had high resolution but also contained thousands of blunders related ...
The communities of marine microorganisms that make up half the biomass in the oceans and are responsible for half the photosynthesis the world over, mostly remain enigmatic. A few abundant groups have had their genomes described, but the natures and functions of the rest remain mysterious.
Understanding how the changing global environment might affect these important ecosystem players is like trying to understand the solar system when all you can discern are the brightest objects in the sky.
Now University of Washington scientists have advanced a method that allowed ...
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A two-year study of high school football players suggests that concussions are likely caused by many hits over time and not from a single blow to the head, as commonly believed.
Purdue University researchers have studied football players for two seasons at Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Ind., where 21 players completed the study the first season and 24 the second season, including 16 repeating players.
Helmet-sensor impact data from each player were compared with brain-imaging scans and cognitive tests performed before, during and after each ...
New Rochelle, NY, February 2, 2012—Small RNA-based nucleic acid drugs represent a promising new class of therapeutic agents for silencing abnormal or overactive disease-causing genes, and researchers have discovered new mechanisms by which RNA drugs can control gene activity. A comprehensive review article in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., details these advances.
Short strands of nucleic acids, called small RNAs, can be used for targeted gene silencing, making them attractive drug candidates. These small RNAs ...
Thanks to the presence of a natural "zoom lens" in space, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope got a uniquely close-up look at the brightest "magnified" galaxy yet discovered.
This observation provides a unique opportunity to study the physical properties of a galaxy vigorously forming stars when the universe was only one-third its present age.
A so-called gravitational lens is produced when space is warped by a massive foreground object, whether it is the sun, a black hole or an entire cluster of galaxies. The light from more-distant background objects is distorted, brightened ...
The doors are open on NASA's Suomi NPP satellite and the newest version of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument is scanning Earth for the first time, helping to assure continued availability of measurements of the energy leaving the Earth-atmosphere system.
The CERES results help scientists to determine the Earth's energy balance, providing a long-term record of this crucial environmental parameter that will be consistent with those of its predecessors.
CERES arrived in space Oct. 28, 2011, carried by NASA's newest Earth-observing satellite, ...
