New tool to confront lung cancer focuses on misregulation of two genes
Friday, June 20, 2014 - 12:32
in Health & Medicine
Misregulation of two genes, sox2 and lkb1, drives squamous cell lung cancer in mice, researchers report. The discovery uncovers new treatment strategies, and provides a clinically relevant mouse model in which to test them. Only 15% of patients with squamous cell lung cancer -- the second most common lung cancer -- survive five years past diagnosis. Little is understood about how the deadly disease arises, preventing development of targeted therapies that could serve as a second line of defense once standard chemotherapy regimens fail.