Cancer progression may be cornered because researchers believe that immediately available drugs may be used to treat 80% of lung tumors in non-smoking patients.

U.S. health experts estimate that up to 20% of lung cancer patients who die in 2018 – about 30,000 – have never smoked in their lifetime. Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor in the UK and US, accounting for 70 to 80% of all lung cancer cases. However, those who did not touch cigarettes or smoked less than 100 were not exempt from lifelong modification.

Smoking, pollution and exposure to certain chemicals and radioactive gases increase the risk of lung tumors.

But the good news is that a team of researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, USA, may have found a solution to this problem.

A new report released Thursday found that 78 to 92 percent of so-called non-smokers can be cured of lung cancer by drugs already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The study was published in the Journal of Medical Oncology Clinical Oncology.

Health experts describe non-smokers as currently non-smokers, but may have smoked 100 or more cigarettes in the past.

It appears that smokers and non-smokers develop different types of lung cancer.

Most tumors in the lungs of non-smokers are caused by so-called transmission mutations in DNA, the researchers said.

These mutations, or errors in the genetic code, cause cancerous tumors to grow, but can be prevented with the right medication.

Meanwhile, tumors are found in only half of the population due to spread mutations.

Dr. Ramasamy Govindan, lead author of the study, said: “Most genetic studies on lung cancer focus on the history of tobacco smoking. Even studies that look at the disease in non-smokers do not examine specific, functional mutations in these. Tumors in a systematic manner. We found that the majority of these patients had genetic mutations. Major mutations that physicians today can treat with drugs that are already approved for use. But testing for these patients is very important. “

According to experts, these patients have a higher probability of having a “functional mutation”.

It is estimated that 10 to 15% of lung cancers in the United States are diagnosed in non-smokers. In some parts of Asia, the numbers can be as high as 40%.

Researchers in Washington, D.C., analyzed lung tumors in 160 patients and diagnosed non-smoking lung cancer adenocarcinoma in the United States.

These data were compared with the Cancer Gene Atlas and the Clinical Tumor Analysis Federation.

Based on the study, Dr. Govindan and colleagues determined that lung tumors in smokers are 10 times more likely to be caused by tumors in non-smokers.

He said: “Tobacco smoking leads to characteristic changes in cancer cells, so we may see signs of smoking or signs of over-exposure to smoking, but some of these patients’ tumors showed those symptoms, so we can verify that they are actually non-smokers or patients with no significant exposure to tobacco smoke. Tumors.

The researchers also found that only about seven percent of patients in the study showed these mutations at birth.

“There seems to be something unique about lung cancer in non-smokers,” Govindan said. “We did not play a major role in hereditary mutations, and we did not find evidence for a large number of mutations. Second smoke exposure.”

Although cancer is more common in men, it is found in 60% of women and 40% of men.

According to the expert, some additional genes may distort the results, although “we still do not know what these results are”.

He added, “The most important finding is that we have found active mutations in 80% to 90% of these patients. This study highlights the need to obtain high-quality tumor biopsies for clinical genetic testing so that we can identify the most targeted treatments for their tumors.” . “Individual”.

Source: Express

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