Cleveland Clinic crew identifies possible lung cancer biomarkers

Cleveland Clinic scientists believe they have identified possible blood biomarkers that could help detect lung cancer, based on the alteration of metabolic processes that happens to patients with the disease at various stages.

Details of their findings are published in an online supplement of the journal CHEST. Researchers will present their work on Oct. 29 at the American College of Chest Physicians' (CHEST 2014) annual meeting in Austin, TX.

The discovery is noteworthy, but further work is needed in a larger patient pool in order to reaffirm the initial findings and validate the biomarker discovery as a viable tool for lung cancer diagnosis and treatment. If validated, drug companies would gain potential targets on which to test new treatments. Clinicians could also use the biomarkers as a way to pursue earlier diagnosis and treatment for some lung cancer patients. Lung cancer is hard to spot early and it is notoriously hard to treat, so either factor could help boost the standard of care in the long run.

Dr. Peter Mazzone, director of the Lung Cancer Program for the Respiratory Institute at Cleveland Clinic, issued a brief statement that acknowledged the finding's diagnostic potential.

"This information could lead to the development of a diagnostic biomarker for the early detection of lung cancer," Mazzone said.

Scientists looked at blood serum from 284 people. Nearly half were women and the mean patient age hit 68 years. All were diagnosed with either adenocarcinoma or squamous lung cancer. According to the Cleveland Clinic, 44% had stage I cancer, 17% were at stage II, and 39% at stage III. A 194-patient control group matched the cancer patients in factors including age, gender, smoking history, COPD, diabetes and blood lipids. They faced lung cancer risks but didn't have the disease yet.

After identifying 534 metabolites, scientists zeroed in on 149 of them that presented major differences in cancer patients versus the control group.

Other companies and researchers are pursuing ways to diagnose lung cancer more quickly. Allegro Diagnostics claims to have done so with its BronchoGen lung cancer diagnostic, which has shown to be more precise in identifying lung cancer earlier on when used with a bronchoscopy. Veracyte ($VCYT) snatched the Massachusetts outfit up in September for $21 million. Cancer Genetics (CGI) ($CGIX) has developed cancer-related biomarker-based testing. Drugmaker AstraZeneca ($AZN) and CGI formed a partnership earlier in the summer that calls, in part, for CGI to supply complex testing in Central America for patients with lung cancer.

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