New cancer classification method examines molecular structure, responses

New cancer classification method examines molecular structure, responses


Traditionally, cancers have typically been classified by the type of tissue where they develop. For example, all lung cancers are classified together, because they all develop in lung tissue.

This approach is practical. But it leads to the assumption that cancer cells from one area of the body probably have more in common with each other than they do with cancer cells from other parts of your body.

Now, a new study suggests that this assumption should be reconsidered.

The study, published in the journal Cell, classified cancer cells based upon their molecular structure.

In the study, researchers examined about thirty-five-hundred specimens representing 12 types of cancer. The scientists determined which genes were involved in producing the cancer cells.

The results showed that the cells could be classified into 11 major subtypes. In five of these subtypes, cancer cells that arose from a single type of tissue were indeed very similar to each another.

But in about 10 percent of the cancer cells, the scientists found patterns of genetic alteration that were also present in cancers from other body tissues.

For example, certain bladder cancers had the same genetic alterations found in some head and neck tumors and squamous [SQUAY-muss] cell lung cancers. Squamous cell tumors account for about one-fourth of lung cancers.

This discovery could have implications for patient care. If researchers can find ways to treat the genetic alterations found in squamous cell lung cancers, they might be able to use the same treatments to fight some bladder cancers, too.

So, one study might pay off with methods for fighting two types of cancers.

That’s the kind of bargain that medical science can always use.

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