New DNA Discovery Changes the Way Doctors Look at Cancer

Thanks to the National Cancer Institute's Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE), researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center believe they have discovered a groundbreaking link between DNA and lung cancer.

In many cases, surgery or various treatments can physically get rid of any cancer cells. Still, sometimes even the tiniest cancers have a return rate of up to 40 percent. These recurring lung cancers can have deadly consequences. “While there may be no trace of cancer that we can spot after surgery with a microscope, the DNA evidence from these tumors may have been left at the scene, especially in lymph nodes,” explained Malcom Brock, Associate Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins.

What the research team has done is identify certain markers in genes that the cancer cells have left behind. Specifically, they looked for high levels of methylation in four genes: p16, H-cadherin, APC and RASSF1A. In doing so, researchers claim that they are now able to predict which patients are likely to see their cancer return.

In fact, certain high methylation gene combinations have proven to be particularly deadly. When the p16 and H-cadherin genes have higher than normal methylation in both a lymph node and tumor tissue, 100 percent of patients studied had a recurrence of cancer within 30 months. As if that weren't bad enough, lung cancer cure rates are much lower than breast and prostate cancers.

“The DNA evidence we see for many of the recurring cases suggests it may be wise...to reclassify such cancers as advanced disease instead of early stage,” Brock detailed.

Currently, further studies of methyl markers are being conducted on cancer patients at Johns Hopkins.

To receive a FREE Mesothelioma Web information packet** or to make a request, please fill out the following form :

**For a FREE information packet including treatments, clinical trials, and specialists, please complete the form above or call a Mesothelioma Web coordinator at 1-877-367-6376.

News

Resources

If you would like to receive a FREE information packet or have questions about mesothelioma, call us at:

Toll-Free 1-877-367-6376