Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer, accounting for the most cancer deaths each year.
It is very hard to detect in its early stages and may take years to grow.
Lung
cancer
Lung cancer can form anywhere in the lung tissue, but more than 90 percent of these cancers are thought to arise in the epithelial cells which line the airways.
The most common forms of this cancer are:
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC)
is almost always associated with smoking and comprises less than 20 percent of all lung cases diagnosed.
It often starts in the bronchi (near the center of the chest) and it tends to spread throughout the body fairly early in the course of the disease.
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 80 – 90 percent of all lung cancers.
There are three major sub-types of NSCLC:
Squamous cell carcinoma tends to be found in the central portions of the lung and is typically associated with smoking.
Adenocarcinoma is usually found in the outer part of the lung.
Large-cell carcinoma typically grow and spread quickly and can be found in any part of the lung.
Lung mesothelioma is found in the lining of the lungs. Typically this type of cancer is due to asbestos exposure and it may take up to 50 years for the symptoms to appear.
Probable
causes
Oncogenes (genes that are mutated or over-expressed) such as K-RAS and p53
Growth stimulating proteins like epidermal growth factor (EGFr), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements, ROS1, and others.
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Lifestyle associations including cigarette smoking and industrial exposures like fumes, toxins, heavy metals and asbestos
treatment
options
Currently, oncologists base their treatment strategy on standard chemotherapy protocols for specific types of cancer.
While lung cancer patients with EGFr or ALK mutations may be eligible for newer targeted therapies, those without mutations will be treated with one of several platinum doublets that combine cisplatin or carboplatin with vinorelbine, paclitaxel, gemcitabine, Docetaxel or pemetrexed. Small cell lung cancer patients most often receive cisplatin plus etoposide or cisplatin plus irinotecan.
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These protocols, developed over years of clinical trials, assign patients to the drugs for which they have the greatest statistical probability of response.
Even with the standard expected response rate of 30 percent, that leaves 7 out of 10 patients receiving treatment without benefit.
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We offer a functional profiling test that measures, in the laboratory, how your lung cancer cells respond to various drugs BEFORE you receive them.
This test helps select the most effective and least toxic drug regimen for your lung cancer.
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Our Lung Cancer Research Findings:
An October 2012 study published in the journal of Anticancer Research revealed that metastatic lung cancer patients who received treatments chosen by our EVA-PCD functional profile realized a two-fold improvement in response and survival.
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With a 39 percent durable complete remission rate for patients receiving assay “sensitive” therapy, this remains one of the best outcomes in this lethal disease ever reported.
