Lung cancer kills more people than any other cancer, according to the CDC. And cigarette smoking is the number one risk factor for lung cancer—it’s associated with about 90 percent of lung cancers in the U.S. Each year, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids celebrates Kick Butts Day by urging youth to speak out against tobacco companies, educate kids on the dangers of smoking, and encourage smokers to quit.
Being tobacco free is a great way to reduce the risk of developing lung cancer, but lung cancer doesn’t affect smokers alone. In fact, the American Cancer Society estimates that about 16,000 to 24,000 Americans who never smoked die of lung cancer each year.
We can fight lung cancer in two ways. The first is to reduce the risk of getting lung cancer by going tobacco free. The second is to have better diagnostics and targeted therapies to help those who are fighting lung cancer.
Lung cancer is the most deadly because it is often detected in later stages. Once identified, lung cancers are also difficult to biopsy. New liquid biopsy tests that analyze circulating tumor cells in a patient’s blood promise to provide the necessary information for doctors to personalize therapies.
"Today, tumor biopsies are often tested for genetic mutations that help match patients to therapies, but accessing enough biopsy material from lung cancer patients is especially difficult," said Dr. Prahalad.
Epic Sciences recently developed a new liquid biopsy test for non-small cell lung cancer. The simple blood test isolates circulating tumor cells and DNA and looks for certain biomarkers, genes and proteins that promote the cancer’s growth. The goal is to use these test results to recommend personalized therapies that target the specific biomarkers present for each patient.
"Patients with non-small cell lung cancer are matched to a targeted therapy based on an understanding of the genetic and proteomic NSCLC biomarkers,” said Ryan Dittamore, vice president, marketing and translational research of Epic Sciences.
Epic’s liquid biopsy for non-small cell lung cancer is now being verified in studies at top cancer centers across the U.S.
"This is an exciting era for our patients with NSCLC. Performing analyses via a 'liquid biopsy' holds the promise of minimizing the need for the serial, more invasive tumor biopsies while providing information that can inform treatment decisions for our patients in real time," said Jhanelle Gray, M.D., thoracic medical oncologist at Moffitt.
If you’d like to find out more about Epic’s research on lung cancer, click here.