Novel animal model of lung adenocarcinoma

	Tweet

As reported in the June 1 issue of Genes and Development, Drs. Katerina Politi, Harold Varmus and colleagues at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York have developed a novel animal model of lung adenocarcinoma that will be of great use in testing the efficacy of targeted therapies against human lung cancer.

“We hope to use these models to understand how mutations in the EGFR gene initiate lung tumors, which are the most common cause of cancer mortality . In addition, these models will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of new drugs and drug combinations and to study the molecular basis of resistance to existing tyrosine kinase inhibitors,” explains Dr. Politi.

Lung cancer patients who harbor mutations in the human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene generally have a better response to drugs that inhibit EGFR (like Iressa and Tarceva). Dr. Politi and colleagues have engineered a strain of mice with a mutated form of EGFR that can be turned on or off in lung cells at will. These inducible EGFR-mutant mice allow the researchers to evaluate the contribution of EGFR mutations to lung cancer formation, progression and response to chemotherapeutics.

The researchers found that mutations in EGFR drive lung tumorigenesis, and that either turning off the mutant EGFR gene or inhibiting it with drug can effectively force the tumors into regression. Thus, their model not only lends mechanistic insight into the genetic factors involved in lung cancer, but also serves as a paradigm to develop, test, and hopefully improve targeted cancer therapies.

http://www.cshl.edu

RELATED STORIES:
WHO starts drive against environmental cancer risk   Joining forces to improve lung cancer treatment   EU lung cancer down in men, up in women   Women often opt out of lung cancer studies   Gene found that may predict lung cancer in smokers   Survey finds significant racial differences in lung cancer beliefs   Cellular clues to vitamin A resistance in lung cancer   Blood test may find early lung cancer: study   Asian lung cancer patient survival exceeds Caucasians’ on multiple regimens   Simple blood test detects lung cancer before it’s too late   Smoking tied to lung cancer in women with HIV   Anti-estrogen medication reduces risk of dying from lung cancer   Certain Vitamin Supplements May Increase Lung Cancer Risk, Especially in Smokers   Pot smoking not a major lung cancer threat   Young women warned of lung cancer risks   Lung Cancer Screening Encouraged for Smokers with History of the Disease   Promising Strategy for Treatment of Lung Cancer   Who should get screened for lung cancer?   Gene Expression Profiling Not Quite Perfected in Predicting Lung Cancer Prognosis   Women Smokers, Higher Risk But Lower Death Rates from Lung Cancer   Eating a variety of fruit cuts lung cancer risk   Genetic Mutation Associated With Increased Risk of Lung Cancer

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]