New Test in the Treatment of Lung Cancer

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – There are 169,399 people diagnosed with lung cancer each year. About 1 in 45 women and 1 in 22 men will develop it during their lifetime.  A new test could allow for a more precise diagnosis and better targeted therapy for patients with lung cancer.

Lung cancers are traditionally divided into two main groups, either neuroendocrine or non-small cell lung cancer. In 20 to 30 percent of the cases it is difficult to make a definitive diagnosis of the tumor subtype using fine needle biopsy.

"Subclassification has become very important in the determination of patient management," Tina B. Edmonston, M.D., director of the clinical laboratory at Rosetta Genomics, Inc. was quoted as saying. "This sub classification leads to treatment decisions, so it is very important to make the diagnosis accurately."

Edmonston and her team were able to even further sub-classify small cell lung cancer into squamos and non-squamos, and neuroendocrine into small cell lung cancer and carcinoid with a high level of specificity and sensitivity.

Edmonton believes that the test will result in better treatment decisions because not all subtypes of lung cancer will respond to drugs and some may even have unique risks.

SOURCE: Cancer Therapeutic Development,  October 2010

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