LUNG CANCER STUDIES

There are several important advances in lung cancer research being reported out of ASCO, the major cancer conference in New Orleans. The studies find that not only are lung cancer survival rates improving, but that there are now several new, and better, treatments being developed.

The latest lung cancer research reestablishes the strong links between lung cancer and smoking. There’s more reason now than ever before to kick the habit. New data suggests that smokers who quit before age 35 have a reasonable chance to live as long and as well as people who have never smoked. The new study out of Duke University shows that fifteen years after they quit smoking, most Americans can expect the same quality of life as if they never smoked.
“I smoked from the time I was about 22.” For smokers like John Korian, who do have lung cancer, at least now, lung cancer treatment strategies are rapidly improving. Patients receiving the cancer pill Tarceva, which targets only cancer cells, demonstrated on average a two-month longer survival. Researchers hope results will be better if the drug is started earlier.
And perhaps even more promising is the use of Tarceva along with another targeted treatment called Avastin--a drug already being used in colon cancer patients. Avastin works by blocking the growth of blood vessels, which feed a cancer with nutrients. Thus, the diminished blood supply stunts the growth of the tumor. The combination of Avastin and Tarceva significantly prolongs survival, and may do so even better than either drug alone. Cancer specialist Dr. Roy Herbst of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston says, “I can imagine that one day, newer drugs like Tarceva and Avastin will be used in selected patients in the earliest stages of lung cancer.”
Other research shows rates of female lung cancer diagnoses, the number one cancer killer, have declined about 2% a year since 1998. Also, female death rates from lung cancer have leveled off, remaining virtually unchanged since 1995.
In addition, two new landmark studies out show unquestionably that standard chemotherapy markedly improves survival in victims of early stage lung cancer, something not truly known until now. The researchers found after four years, 71% getting chemo were still alive, compared with 59% getting only surgery. “Right now, I think chemotherapy and lung cancer is here to stay, in fact we’re seeing that the new chemotherapies appear to be more active, they even seem to be more active in adjuvant therapy after tumors are removed,” remarks Dr. Herbst.