UCLA Has New Way To Predict Survival In Older Women With Lung Cancer
In older women with early stage lung cancer, UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have discovered a novel mechanism to predict their survival.
Higher levels of aromatase (an enzyme that naturally makes estrogen from another hormone called androgen) have, for the first time, been linked to more aggressive disease and lower survival rates in women over 65 with Stage 1 or 2 lung cancer.
Such findings do not only provide possible need tool in predicting survival but also new target for therapy using aromatase inhibitors.
According to the study’s senior author, Lee Goodglick, an associate professor in the UCLA Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and a Jonsson Cancer Center researcher:
“All indications suggest that this is a very powerful prognostic marker that lets us predict which patients have a higher likelihood of prolonged survival versus death from lung cancer.
If doctors know that a woman has a higher probability of longer-term survival, they may choose a more strategic course of action, compared to a woman with a more aggressive form of lung cancer, where doctors might choose a more aggressive course of therapy.
Another notable finding from this study is that we’re able to predict survival at a relatively early stage of the disease, when we have more treatment options.”
Find more details from UCLA JCCC.
Tags: androgen, aromatase, aromatase-inhibitors, estrogen, lung-cancerRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Lung cancer, ~ Diagnosing cancer ~
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