Large International Study Identifies Genetic Susceptibility To Lung Cancer

Main Category: Lung Cancer
Also Included In: Genetics
Article Date: 13 Nov 2008 - 8:00 PST

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In a paper to be published in Nature Genetics on 2nd November, a worldwide consortium of investigators present a major breakthrough for understanding the genetic basis of lung cancer.

The results are based on the largest genetic study of lung cancer ever conducted, and was organised by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, Lyon, France), the Centre National de Génotypage (CNG, Evry, France), with support from the Institut National du Cancer (Paris, France).

The study brought together a research team from 18 countries who investigated DNA variants in more than 15,000 people: 6000 with lung cancer and 9000 without. The new lung cancer region is located on the 5th human chromosome and contains two known genes, TERT and CRR9, either of which might be the culprit. "We think TERT is the most likely candidate" CNG Director Mark Lathrop said. "It's a gene that encodes part of telomerase, an enzyme critically linked to cancer development. It's the stand out candidate".

IARC