Lung Cancer Blog

Nicotine Receptors Could Be Lung Cancer Treatment Target

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

MONDAY, June 15 – In a study of mice with lung cancer, a treatment that targeted nicotine receptors more than doubled the animals' survival time, Italian researchers say.

Nicotine plays a dual role in lung cancer. Changes in genes encoding nicotine receptors not only drive the urge the smoke, but also increase susceptibility to lung cancer. Exposure to nicotine boosts the expression of nicotine receptors, which leads to increased cell proliferation and inhibits the programmed cell death known as apoptosis.

In the new study, published in the June 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the compound α-CbT dampened the expression of nicotine receptors and increased apoptosis, prolonging the lives of the mice. Read more...

Related support groups: Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Small Cell Lung Cancer, Lung Cancer

Coming Soon: Lung-Cancer Spray?

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

MONDAY, June 15 – Scientists may someday be able to fight lung cancer using gene therapy delivered by an inhalable spray.

In a new study, mice with lung cancer that were treated with a vaporized viral vector twice a week for four weeks had fewer, smaller tumors than untreated mice.

Researchers also found that treated mice had increased apoptosis, or programmed cell death, necessary for healthy tissues, as well as suppressed production of several proteins that contribute to cancer cell growth.

The study, by researchers at Seoul National University in Korea, appears in the June 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Read more...

Related support groups: Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Small Cell Lung Cancer, Lung Cancer

Radiation-Chemo Combo Boosts Lung Cancer Outcomes

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, April 14 – New research shows people with advanced lung cancer can survive longer when treated simultaneously with high-dose radiation and chemotherapy.

A study by the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that patients with stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer survived, on average, almost 16 months after diagnosis when given high-dose radiation and chemotherapy at the same time. This compares with an average of about seven months for those treated only with radiation and almost 15 months for those receiving radiation before chemotherapy. Read more...

Related support groups: Lung Cancer

Blacks Less Likely to Get Optimal Lung Cancer Treatment

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

MONDAY, April 13 – Black patients with lung cancer are less likely than white patients to receive recommended chemotherapy and surgery, a new study finds.

Disparities in lung cancer treatments were as large in 2002 as they were back in the early 1990s, even though there have been efforts to decrease those inequalities in treatment, the study said.

"This study shows what most of the previous research has shown – that disparities in treatment patterns [still exist] between blacks and whites," said Katherine S. Virgo, director of health services research the American Cancer Society, who was not involved in the study.

The findings were published online April 13 in the journal Cancer. Read more...

Related support groups: Lung Cancer

Optimal Treatment Boosts Blacks' Lung Cancer Survival

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Jan. 19 – Survival disparities between white and black patients with early-stage lung cancer disappear when black patients receive optimal therapy, according to a U.S. study that included nearly 18,000 patients.

Surgery to remove a portion of the lung (pulmonary resection) provides the best chance of a cure for patients with early-stage lung cancer. Read more...

Related support groups: Lung Cancer

Iressa as Good as Chemotherapy for Lung Cancer

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Nov. 21 – The cancer-fighting pill Iressa works as well as chemotherapy as a second-line treatment for lung cancer, researchers report.

Although neither therapy prolongs survival beyond eight months, Iressa (gefitinib) causes fewer serious side effects and may be a better choice for patients who did not do well on their first round of chemotherapy.

"A pill, with less side effects, taken once a day, has similar activity to traditional chemotherapy given by vein every three weeks," said lead researcher Dr. Edward Kim, an assistant professor at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

This finding should reassure doctors that they are not compromising effective therapy by using a pill, Kim said. Read more...

Related support groups: Iressa, Lung Cancer

Immune System Biomarkers May Predict Early Lung Cancer

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Sept. 15 – A test that uses immune system biomarkers to detect lung cancer can identify the presence of the disease a year before diagnosis, long before a patient experiences any symptoms, according to researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and the University of Michigan.

They noted the immune system mounts a response against specific antigens, or proteins, produced by lung tumors in their early stages of development. Read more...

Related support groups: Lung Cancer