Meeting Report: AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death, accounting for one-third of all cancer deaths.  Lung cancer is also the second most common cancer in men (after prostate cancer) and women (after breast cancer).  Over 200,000 people are diagnosed with and about 150,000 people die from lung cancer every year in the United States [a, b].  While surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are routine treatment choices, in the recent years, patients have benefited from the introduction of targeted therapies based on the discovery of mutations in the EGFR and KRAS genes, and EML/ALK translocations.   EGFR mutations are more commonly found in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumors in Asian population (30-40%) than Caucasians (10-15%).   About 4% of the patients carry EML/ALK translocation.


The ongoing 2012 AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer: Biology, Therapy and Personalized Medicine in San Diego highlights some of the recent advances in lung cancer biology, diagnosis and treatment (see below)

Midline Carcinoma, a Cancer Without a Cure: No More

An extremely rare and "almost always" fatal midline carcinoma effects just 20-40 individuals per year and there are about 200 people with this cancer in the US.  It typically originates in the "midline" regions of the body, such as nose, mouth and sinuses in the head; trachea in the neck; upper airways, chest and thymus in the mediastinum.  It effects children and adults, alike.

Since midline carcinoma cells are undifferentiated or poorly differentiated, this cancer is often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed.  Diagnosis occurs upon chromosomal analysis and a discovery of a chromosomal rearrangement fusing a gene called NUT to a bromodomain gene BRD4.

How the Evil Doctor Doofenshmirtz is Bringing Cancer Metabolic Addiction to the Tri-State Area

A Senior VP of a Bay Area cancer biotech's R&D recently gave a spin to an old saying and commented, “the beatings will continue until the patient body's morale will improve,” and he added, “the beating will now come through cancer cell metabolism."  

Striking the Heart of Hydra with miRNA

Cancer has long been depicted as a nasty crab.  Now Colin Barras describes it as a “distant animal ancestor, a ‘living fossil’ from over 600 million years ago.”  If cancer is an organism, it is an alien in our bodies.  An alien believed by many to be driven by cancer stem cells on an engine of endothelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) phenotype. 

Friday Grand Rounds: Harold Varmus Discusses Cancer Cell Biology and Clinical Translation

Thirty-five years ago Harold E. Varmus [wikipedia], along with J. Michael Bishop, discovered the role of oncogenes in cancer.  That seminal discovery in 1975 gave cancer researchers a path, "the road to be taken," that has today led to great advancements in clinical oncology; it has changed the face of a growing number of cancer types to potentially curable or manageable forms.  Not long ago, both scientists were honored with the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1989 [read, [here, here]

Emerging Target, “Cell Metabolism”: From Boondocks to Harvard Square, Boston

The emergence of “cancer energy metabolism” as one of the promising targets, is affirmed by the two significant Pharma deals this year:

Verastem brings CSC target into “sharper” focus

The launch of Verastem, Inc., in Boston last week with the securing of $16 million Series A financing , signals the coming of age of cancer stem cells (CSCs) as a target for solid cancers.