New Study Provides Information About Lung Cancers

A new study is shedding light on how lung cancer spreads throughout the human body. Scientists hope that this new research can lead to more effective lung cancer treatments for patients all over the world. Asbestos exposure, along with other factors, can cause lung cancer or mesothelioma.

The new research was spearheaded by a team of Finnish scientists. The team now understands the mechanism that lung cancer cells use to spread and form metastases. The joint research group consisted of scientists from both VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the University of Turku, in cooperation with the University of Heidelberg. The researchers also uncovered the factor which controls the spreading of several different cancer types.

The research helps doctors and scientists to understand the ability of cancer cells to manifest initially in a tumor in one part of the body, and then spread aggressively into other areas of the body.

Previously, it was thought that spreading cancer cells had lost the ability to bind them to other cells of the initial tumor, and that was what allowed the cells to detach from the tumor and migrate to other areas of the body. However, the researchers have found that cancer cells are able to change the way that they adhere to the cells around them. This finding unveiled a previously unknown travel mechanism. Because the travel mechanism is not crucial to the health of normal cells, new treatments can be devised that focus on the cancer cell’s ability to migrate.

In recent years, oncologists and scientific researchers have gained a better understanding of how mesothelioma cancer manifests. Specialists like Dr. David Sugarbaker of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts continue to study mesothelioma causes and treatment methods with the hope of finding a cure.