To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Gene Panel May Predict Lung Cancer Survival URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/22625E.htm Doctor's Guide July 21, 2008
ANN ARBOR, Mich -- July 21, 2008 -- An analysis involving a panel of genes may be used to predict which lung cancer patients will have the worst survival, according to a study that appears online in Nature Medicine. The finding could one day lead to a test that would help determine who needs more aggressive treatment. The researchers looked at 442 lung cancer tissue samples collected from 6 cancer hospitals in North America. They tested the cancer samples to look at the expression of hundreds of genes and factored in clinical predictors such as tumour stage and the patients' gender and age. The results showed that the lung cancers could be divided into groups with better and worse survival rates. "We found that looking at clinical data along with gene expression can be a more reliable indicator [to identify which patients need the additional therapy and which patients could potentially avoid it]," said study author David Beer, PhD, University of Michigan Medical School and University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan. "Gene expression is not just a black box approach -- which a lot of researchers think it is. Sometimes knowing the context actually helps you use that information more efficiently." "Our findings suggest that there is a potential for successfully predicting lung cancer prognosis based on gene expression, but it is likely to be more difficult to develop a clinically useful test than has been suggested by previous studies," said Kerby Shedden, PhD, University of Michigan Medical School. "It's going to require more assay standardisation and a large prospective study to identify a signature that is ready for clinical use." The researchers will continue to refine this process, identifying the important genes and testing them on tissue samples. They also plan to test their predictors in a prospective trial, enrolling patients as they are diagnosed and following their progress. SOURCE: University of Michigan Health System --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.