Dr. Alice Berger receives grant to study causes of lung cancer in never-smokers - Fred Hutch News Service

“The overall goal of the project is to try provide insight into the role of environmental factors in lung cancer,” Berger said. “One of the exciting things is that we’re going to be able to observe the broad underlying mutational signatures that are reflective of possible environmental exposures and could contribute to lung cancer risk in people that have never smoked.”

The results will be a step toward understanding who among never-smokers may be most at risk for lung cancer and, once validated in further studies, point toward possible preventive and risk-reducing measures.

This prevention-focused study complements Berger’s first study of tumors from never-smokers, which focused on understanding how specific mutations may influence cancer treatment response. Both projects draw on samples and data from participants in the Women’s Health Initiative. Fred Hutch is the coordinating hub for this nationwide study.

“The WHI has carefully collected information about environmental and occupational exposures of the women in this study. That will allow us to correlate mutational signatures with the self-reported exposure information,” Berger said. “It’s very different than a lot of other clinical data sets in that way.”

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