New type of lung cancer identified

According to the researchers, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery allow only 6% of patients to survive five years after diagnosis and about 10 to 15% of all lung cancers are SCLC

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Researchers have identified a new type of small cell lung cancer (CPLC) that could pave the way for the development of personalized medical approaches to target this previously unnoticed form of the disease. For researchers, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery allow only 6% of patients to survive five years after diagnosis and about 10 to 15% of all lung cancers are cases of SCLC

. Journal Genes and Development, suggests that an badysis of gene activity in human SCLC tumors reveals an unexpected pattern of activity in approximately 20 percent of samples.

Researchers also found a shortage of neuron To characterize this minority of cells, the research team used a method that was developed using the CRISPR gene editing tool for detect specific proteins. Using this "CRISPR screen", the team found that a transcription factor called POU2F3 is expressed exclusively in the minority of SCLC tumors with low levels of neuroendocrine.

It turns out that this variant form of SCLC tumors are derived from a distinct clbad of rare cells called tuft cells, the researchers said.

"We were using the CRISPR screen to discover new vulnerabilities in this disease that we did not know before.The surprise is that in the process, we discovered a new form of lung cancer," said Christopher Vakoc, lead author of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in the United States

Drugs that specifically target POU2F3 function may be particularly effective in the subgroup of patients with tumors that express high levels of this transcription factor, the researchers noted.

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