Personalized medicine is revolutionizing the treatment of lung cancer.

-the new approach seeks to predict whether a drug will help or not in a particular patient

-personalized medicine offers results in types of lung cancer for which science did not answer

-non-small cell lung cancer may occur in non-smokers

Bogotá February 2012.- achieved advances in molecular biology in the last decade can treat lung cancer through therapies that specifically attack the abnormal genes that cause growth and uncontrolled reproduction of cells.

According to the oncologist Andrés Cardona, Member of the Institute of Oncology of the Fundación Santa fe of Bogotá and scientific coordinator of the laboratory of genomics for the foundation of applied cancer Molecular and clinical research, these developments are particularly encouraging for those who suffer from lung adenocarcinomaa type of cancer in non-small cell (NSCLC) which has the particularity of being the most common among people not smoke or light smokers, i.e. those who have consumed less than 100 cigarettes in their life.

After many studies, have been found at least seven genes that are crucial in the onset and progression of certain types of cancer. Scientists have been given the task of thoroughly study their behavior and discover ways to intervene in them to stop the development of the disease. Thus arise customized therapies, which act in cellular mutations involved in that process.

For example, a treatment recently approved by the administration of food and medicines from United States prevents the growth of cancer cells with a genetic disorder known as ALK fusion gene and allows the regression of the tumor. It is estimated that you between 3% and 5% of tumors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer has this type of mutation.

Dr. Cardona explains its mechanism of action: cell is like a House with an antenna that receives information to grow, play and eventually die. In the presence of these genes, the cell is abnormal is a giant recipients that receive too much information and that causes it to grow and develop uncontrollably and not die. What has been found with new therapies is that you cannot be a kind of patch to that antenna so that information no longer enter the cell resume its normal life cycle ”.

These treatments seek to be more effective and less toxic because they specifically fighting the cause of the growth of cancer cells and offer the patient a personalised medicine, rather than try different alternatives without success.

So also it saves time for these patients, if cancer is not treated properly, it may progress rapidly and spread to other organs such as the brain, bones or the lymphatic system, making it harder to improving and increasing the likelihood that the person dies.

According to Dr. Cardona, lung cancer is the deadliest, among other reasons tumor type, because it is usually diagnosed in late stages. As the lungs are so large bodies, it is very rare symptoms unless the tumor is very thick and starts to cause bronchial obstruction ”, clarifies the specialist.

Also notes that new treatments have generated a radical change in the course of the disease because it makes therapy at a directed target ”. Most importantly, warns the specialist, is you select the point that promotes a significant tumor patients can look forward to having more time for life and with better quality.

Cancer in figures

– according to the World Health Organization lung cancer causes each year 1.4 million deaths.

-85% of all lung cancers are classified as cell not small.

– between 3% and 5% of the cancer cell lung tumors smaller are not positive for the gene fusion ALK.

-only 10% to 15% of patients with lung cancer non-small cell survive for 5 years or more.