By Jeffrey Perkel, HealthDay Reporter A sweeping genetic analysis suggests that the activity of certain genes might someday allow doctors to predict which lung cancer patients need more aggressive therapies and which do not.
But the findings also underscore the difficulty of making such predictions, especially in the case of people with the earliest forms of the disease, when aggressive therapies could be of greatest value.
The goal is to build effective predictors based on gene expression (activity) and use them prospectively to guide treatment decisions, experts said.
However, to do that, "you have to know what are the potential issues that might influence how well gene expression might predict," said researcher David Beer, a professor in the department of thoracic surgery at the University of Michigan. "I guess the bottom line from this study is that because of the heterogeneity of lung adenocarcinoma, it is not an easy problem. There are still significant issues."
But the findings also underscore the difficulty of making such predictions, especially in the case of people with the earliest forms of the disease, when aggressive therapies could be of greatest value.
The goal is to build effective predictors based on gene expression (activity) and use them prospectively to guide treatment decisions, experts said.
However, to do that, "you have to know what are the potential issues that might influence how well gene expression might predict," said researcher David Beer, a professor in the department of thoracic surgery at the University of Michigan. "I guess the bottom line from this study is that because of the heterogeneity of lung adenocarcinoma, it is not an easy problem. There are still significant issues."
Still, this study -- the most comprehensive yet to date -- could pave the way to more tailored lung cancer treatment based on gene expression profiles, said one expert.
"The goal is five years from now, if I had this data on a stage 1 or stage 2 lung cancer patient, that I could say, 'Hey, you have a very low-risk profile, you don't need chemotherapy' and vice-versa, of course," said Dr. Edward Kim, an assistant professor of medicine in the department of thoracic/head and neck oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.
"The goal is five years from now, if I had this data on a stage 1 or stage 2 lung cancer patient, that I could say, 'Hey, you have a very low-risk profile, you don't need chemotherapy' and vice-versa, of course," said Dr. Edward Kim, an assistant professor of medicine in the department of thoracic/head and neck oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.
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