Our progress against lung cancer
Genetics
Our researchers have led studies analysing the genomes of both lung cancer patients and healthy people to pinpoint the genes that predict lung cancer.
For example, Professor Jyoti Choudhary worked on the most comprehensive study to date of lung cancer in non-smokers. It showed that lung cancer in non-smokers is a distinct disease from that in smokers, and is likely to respond differently to treatments.
We also helped identify parts of the genome that put smokers at greater risk of getting lung cancer, as well as determining the type of lung cancer that might develop.
Links to breast cancer
Our researchers have uncovered connections between lung cancer and breast cancer that shed light on how the diseases work and how to treat them.
A study led by geneticist Professor Richard Houlston, for example, was the first to link lung cancer with defective copies of the BRCA2 gene. Professor Chris Lord also headed a study that found the lung cancer drug critzotinib can be used to target breast cancers with a specific genetic defect.