Common lung cancer type improved by targeted therapy

According to a new study released by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a combination of two already used drugs for lung cancer is a new successful treatment for improving this condition. The results of this study are published in the journal Cancer Discovery. The senior author of this study is David Barbie, MD, of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at Dana-Farber and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. “About 30 percent of lung adenocarcinomas have mutations in KRAS, which amounts to nearly 30,000 of all patients diagnosed with lung cancer each year in the United States”, said Barbie. KRAS mutations are considered to cause cancer cells` growth. The reason of the beginning of this research is associated with lack of medications available which could block KRAS in a safe way. There is a protein, TBK1 which is active in the immune system and is related to lung cancer. Barbie examined the protein and found that CYT387, a medication is helpful for its control.