Nov. 9, 2011 -- A new approach to treating cancer appears to help certain patients with advanced lung cancer, and researchers say they think they may have a way of spotting those who will benefit.
The small study is generating big excitement in the world of cancer treatment because it demonstrates that so-called epigenetic drugs may work when traditional chemotherapy has failed.
Epigenetic drugs work by controlling gene expression -- the way information from genes is used to create products such as proteins.
The study is published in Cancer Discovery.
"This is a ... groundbreaking study, showing that by modifying the epigenetics of a cancer cell we can get real responses in lung cancer," said Jeffrey A. Engleman, MD, PhD, director of thoracic oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, in a news briefing. "And getting real responses in lung cancer is actually quite difficult, so we take special notice of therapies that can do this." He was not involved in the research.
0 comments:
Post a Comment