According to a new study, pulmonary adenocarcinoma, the most frequent form of lung cancer, would spread in the human body by two very distinct pulmonary routes.
the lung cancer is the fourth most common in France after that of the prostate, breast and colorectal. Each year, 46,363 new cases are diagnosed, according to the national cancer institute. Among them, four out of ten are lung adenocarcinoma. Also, many researchers are looking into the subject in order to develop the most effective treatments possible. Now, a new US study may well help patients with lung adenocarcinoma. According to these works published on August 1 in Cancer-Cell, this form of cancer would spread in the human body by two very distinct pulmonary pathways.
A few years ago, Dr. Fileds and his colleagues at the Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus in the USA discovered the link between protein kinase C iota (PKC iota) and the spread of lung cancer. On the strength of these results, the researchers this time observed, thanks to work on mice, that the first pulmonary pathway taken by pulmonary adenocarcinoma depends on PKC iota, while the second operates independently. Thus, lung adenocarcinomas from two different pathways are formed in different regions of the lung, by different cells of origin.
The researchers then wanted to check whether lung adenocarcinoma followed the same path in humans. Using a molecular marker, they were able to find a match and predict which human lung adenocarcinoma cells came from the iota PKC-independent pathway found in mice.
“We hope to offer other options to patients”
“The ability to identify the specific pathway by which a patient’s lung adenocarcinoma arose increases our ability to predict which patients are likely – or unlikely – to respond to a specific treatment, and we hope to provide more options. patients whose cancer subtype is unlikely to respond,” says Alan Fields, cancer biologist and lead author of the study.
Then, the scientists tested two types of drugs on mice and human cells, adapted according to the type of pathway identified. They found that the drugs affected the adenocarcinoma subtypes differently.
From now on, it will be necessary to work to understand how experimental drugs can slow down the growth of lung cancer in a predictable way in patients dependent or not on PKC iota. Eventually, the researchers hope to be able to extend their method to other types of cancer.
80-85% of lung cancers are non-small cell cancers
In detail, there are two types of lung cancer: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. The first is seen in the main airways of the lung called the bronchi, which are found in the center of each lung. It is said to be small cell because cancerous cells appear small under the microscope. Small but very fast, which is actually the most aggressive type of lung cancer. It is observed especially in people who have smoked.
Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common: 80 to 85% of lung cancers are non-small cell cancers. Among them, adenocarcinoma is the most common. It originates in the lung cells that make mucus. It is often seen in the outer edges of the lungs.
In 2018, in France, 33,117 people died of lung cancer (22,761 men and 10,356 women).
