Blood protein in lung cancer may help improve diagnosis, treatment
March 3rd, 2011 - 5:16 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Mar 3 (ANI): Scientists have discovered a protein in the blood of lung cancer patients that could be used in a test for the disease, which is difficult to diagnose in its earliest and most treatable stages, and to develop drugs that stop lung cancer from spreading.
Je-Yoel Cho and colleagues noted that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.
Lung cancer is so deadly because of its tendency to spread - or metastasize - to distant sites in the body, such as the liver or the brain. Early detection could improve survival rates, but it is very difficult to detect lung cancer at early stages with today’s technology.
To find a better diagnostic tool, the researchers studied the proteins in the blood of lung cancer patients in search of red flags that could signal the disease’s presence. They focused on adenocarcinoma, which accounts for 1 in 3 cases and is the most rapidly increasing form of lung cancer in women.
Cho and colleagues found elevated levels of a protein called serum amyloid A (SAA) in the blood and lung tissue of lung adenocarcinoma patients, compared to healthy people. Their work showed that high amounts of SAA were unique to lung cancers (compared with other lung diseases or other cancers) and that the protein was involved in metastasis of cancer cells from the original tumor site. The researchers say that the protein could be used as a diagnostic marker for lung cancer and as a target for developing drugs that stop metastasis.
The study appears in ACS’s Journal of Proteome Research. (ANI)
- Potential biomarkers for predicting colon cancer spread - Mar 04, 2010
- Melanoma spreads to lungs using body's immune system - Oct 08, 2010
- Genetic change helps lung tumors spread to other parts of the body - Apr 07, 2011
- Bone drug may help prevent spread of early lung cancer - Feb 26, 2011
- New protein analysis technique may help in early diagnosis of lung cancer - Dec 03, 2010
- Four novel biomarkers that may help diagnose asthma, COPD identified - Mar 12, 2011
- Biomarker-based blood test can predict metastasis risk in melanoma - Apr 16, 2011
- New biomarkers for predicting colon cancer spread identified - Jan 14, 2010
- Protein biomarkers in exhaled air to help detect lung cancer early - Feb 03, 2011
- Urine test can detect cancers early - Jun 10, 2011
- Key culprit in breast cancer metastasis identified - Feb 17, 2011
- Drug reversing Alzheimer's symptoms found - Feb 12, 2012
- Key component in the spread of lung cancer discovered - Mar 15, 2011
- Mechanism behind brain metastases of cancer identified - Dec 21, 2009
- Blood test could identify lung cancer patients likely to respond to drug erlotinib - May 01, 2010
Tags: blood protein, cancer cells, cancer deaths, cancer in women, cause of cancer, diagnosis treatment, diagnostic marker, journal of proteome research, lung adenocarcinoma, lung cancer, lung cancer patients, lung cancers, lung diseases, lung tissue, protein in the blood, red flags, serum amyloid, survival rates, target, treatable stages