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Genetic Information May Predict Recurrence In Lung Cancer
New research revealed that genetic information near healthy tissue surrounding lung tumors may have a better change of determining recurrence in patients with lung cancer.
Analyzing the cells around lung cancer tumors may provide a better prediction of lung cancer prediction than analyzation of the tumor itself.
Analyzing genetic information and data from healthy tissue near lung tumors could be a more precise tool to predict cancer recurrence post-treatment than analyzing the actual tumors in patients with lung cancer, according to research conducted at by NYU Langone Health and it's Perlmutter Cancer Center.
The study focuses on lung adenocarcinoma, which is a type of lung cancer that starts in alveolar epithelial cells. Lung adenocarcinoma represents about one-third of all lung cancer cases within the United States, according to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although early surgery helps for patients to become cured, typically, 30% experience recurrence, which can become fatal. Due to this, researchers have been investigating biomarkers to come to a conclusion as to when recurrence could happen and thereby to justify more aggressive treatment.
Within the study, 300 sample of tumor and tissue were collected from patients with lung cancer. Researchers within the study then sequenced the RNA, took the data and gained recurrence information within a five-year post-surgery period. This all went into an artificial intelligence algorithm. Researchers used "machine learning" to take mathematical methods, which predicted the recurrence rate and risk, according to the press release.
The study included 147 patients, both men and women, who were treated for early-stage lung cancer. Transcriptome (a set of RNA molecules that alert cells to what proteins need to be made) was explored within the study. RNA analysis of the healthy tissue, which was close to the tumor cells had evaluated that cancer recurrence would be evident 83% of the time, in comparison to RNA from tumors themselves, which only predicted this 63% of the time.
"Our findings suggest that the pattern of gene expression in apparently healthy tissue might serve as an effective and until now elusive biomarker to help predict lung-cancer recurrence in the earliest stages of the disease," study co-lead author Igor Dolgalev, an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and a member of Perlmutter Cancer Center, said in a press release.
This study, which was published in Nature Communications, is the largest to date when it comes to genetic information from tumors and surrounding tissue, alongside the ability to detect recurrence within lung tumors, according to Dolgalev.
Results from the study showed that gene expression that coincided with inflammation or heightened immune system activity in healthy lung tissue was useful in detecting recurrence. The reaction shouldn't be found in healthy tissue and if it is, that could be a sign of early disease signals, according to the study authors.
"Our results suggest that seemingly normal tissue that sits close to a tumor may not be healthy after all," said study co-lead author Hua Zhou, a bioinformatician at NYU Grossman and a member of Perlmutter Cancer Center. "Instead, escaped tumor cells might be triggering this unexpected immune response in their neighbors."
"Immunotherapy, which bolsters the body's immune defenses, might therefore help combat tumor growth before it becomes visible to traditional methods of detection," added study co-senior author and cancer biologist Aristotelis Tsirigos, a professor in the Department of Pathology at NYU Grossman and a member of Perlmutter Cancer Center
Tsirigos became worried that the experiment was training the computer program backwards, knowing that the disease had recurred in those specific patients.
Due to this, the next plan for researchers is to use the program in order to access recurrence risk within these patients, according to Tsirigos.
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Lung Cancer Survival Rates Rise, But Low Screening Rates Leave Many People At Risk
Enlarge this image A doctor assesses a radio surgery treatment plan for a patient with lung cancer, using a 4D CAT scan. Lung cancer survival rates have increased lately. Ryan McFadden/MediaNews Group via Getty Images hide caption
toggle caption Ryan McFadden/MediaNews Group via Getty ImagesA doctor assesses a radio surgery treatment plan for a patient with lung cancer, using a 4D CAT scan. Lung cancer survival rates have increased lately.
Ryan McFadden/MediaNews Group via Getty ImagesSurvival rates for lung cancer are improving, especially among historically marginalized communities of color, according to a new survey from the American Lung Association released Tuesday.
The findings are a bright note amid deepening racial disparities in many areas in health care.
The five-year lung cancer survival rate increased by 22% in the five years between 2015 to 2019. It currently stands at 26.6% across all racial and ethnic groups. Among people of color, the survival rate increased by 17% in just two years (2017-2019), and now stands at 23.7%.
The survey results were "unexpected," says Zach Jump, director of epidemiology and statistics for the American Lung Association, adding that the speed with which racial disparities appear to be closing is remarkable.
"We are encouraged by the work being done to eliminate lung cancer stigma, increase lung cancer screening and improve lung cancer treatment," said Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association in a statement.
Shots - Health News The American Cancer Society says more people should get screened for lung cancer Lung cancer is still the cancer that kills the most Americans, with 127,000 deaths last year. People of color tend to be diagnosed at later stages than their white counterparts, and are less likely to get access to treatments like surgery, which historically have reduced their likelihood of survival.
Survival improvements are not equal across all the races and some disparities still exist. The white survival rate is 25%, but the survival rate is 21% for Black Americans, 22% for Indigenous peoples, and 23% for Hispanics. These rates are an improvement over data from two years earlier, when the survival rates were only 18% for Black Americans, and 19% for Indigenous peoples and Hispanics.
Asian Americans survive lung cancer at higher rates than whites, and their survival rate jumped from 23.4% to 29% over two years.
Jump says he hopes these improvements can be continued, and replicated across other racial disparities in health care. "Honestly, that is our next question: Trying to find out what the driving factor is behind it."
The report also notes some stark geographic disparities in lung cancer survival rates. Patients in Rhode Island had a 33% survival rate, while Oklahoma's was 21%.
Overall lung cancer five-year survival rates are markedly lower than many other cancers. Breast cancer, for instance, has a 91% five-year survival rate, and colorectal cancer's rate is around 65%.
Survival rates for lung cancer could be higher, Jump says, if more people at high-risk got annual low-dose CT scans, which are an effective way to catch the disease early. When caught at an early stage, lung cancer's five-year survival rate is much higher at 63%.
But last year only 4.5% of those eligible were screened for lung cancer — a rate far below that for breast or colorectal cancers.
In fact, just over a quarter of lung cancer cases are diagnosed at an early stage, according to the report, and 44% of cases are not caught until a late stage when the survival rate is only 8%.
Jump says lung cancer does not have to be the same dire diagnosis it once was, thanks to recent new treatments that are proving very effective, especially when used at an early stage. "Suddenly you started getting these targeted immunotherapies, and it was a paradigm shift," he says.
Jump says he hopes screening rates will improve, pushing survival rates higher.
It's rare to see such dramatic improvements in cancer care, and survival rates over such a short time, especially in ways that benefit disadvantaged communities.
"So often, cancer care in general and lung cancer especially moves at a pretty slow pace," Jump says. "So being able to see significant progress over a couple of years has been very exciting and definitely a cause for optimism."
Shots - Health News CRISPR gene-editing may boost cancer immunotherapy, new study finds South Carolina Lagging Behind In Lung Cancer Survival Rates: 2023 Report
South Carolina lagging behind in lung cancer survival rates: 2023 report (FILE Getty Images)
SOUTH CAROLINA (WCIV) —
The American Lung Association in South Carolina released Tuesday its 2023 "State of Lung Cancer" report.
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The report found far too few people in the Palmetto State are surviving lung cancer.
Read MoreSouth Carolina's average survival rate for those with lung cancer is 24.4%, in comparison to the nation's average of 26.6%
The association says increased lung cancer screenings and early diagnoses are key to raising the survival rate for lung cancer patients.
Additionally, Latinos in South Carolina are the most likely to not receive any treatment after a lung cancer diagnosis, the report found.
"Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer deaths here in South Carolina and across the nation," Danna Thompson, director of advocacy for South Carolina at the American Lung Association, said. "Our recent report makes it clear that we have more work to do to increase lung cancer screening and early detection initiatives, as well as address health disparities in our Latino community."
South Carolina also ranks poorly for surgery as a first form of treatment.
The report found that out of U.S. States and territories South Carolina ranks:
The report concluded that lung cancer survival rates are improving for everyone nationally, including people of color. In the last two years the five-year lung cancer survival rate for people of color has increased by 17% over the last two years.
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