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Malignant lung formations can be found in the body in a "dormant" state
Last reviewed: 17.10.2021
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A recent study of specialists from Cancer Research UK showed that cancer can be present in the body in a so-called "dormant" state. As it turned out, lung cancer during the first genetic malignant changes at the cellular level, which are provoked mainly by harmful habits or polluted air, can not be manifested for 20 years, and the disease can not be diagnosed. But at some point, additional stimulation leads to aggressive growth of pathogenic cells and development of the tumor.
Also, specialists have established that changes that activate the pathological process at the gene level, proceed in different parts of the tumor in different ways. This, in the opinion of scientists, explains the genetic heterogeneity of the cancer process and the complexity in the treatment of the disease.
The authors of the scientific project conducted a thorough analysis of the genetic profiles of the cancer process in the lungs in a group of patients. The study participants diagnosed the most common form of the disease - non-small cell lung cancer, the volunteers of the project specialists took smokers in the present, in the past, as well as people who have never smoked.
Specialists managed to completely decipher the genomes of different parts of the tumor, taking into account the mutations in the cells (the scientists took into account the changes in all cells, as well as in individual ones). As a result, this method allowed scientists to recreate the development of the tumor, while determining the changes throughout the stage of tumor growth (from beginning to end).
Scientists paid special attention to those patients who smoked in the past, and as a result, scientists found that the first changes in lung cells occurred more than twenty years ago, at a time when the project participants were still smoking.
In addition, the analysis showed that genetic mutations in the tumor occur in different ways - in some areas, such changes were found that were completely absent in others. According to the researchers, such unevenness in the change leads to the fact that malignant lung formations are extremely difficult to treat.
For example, chemotherapy, selected by biopsy results from a single tumor site, is completely ineffective for another site, and the tumor continues to expand with renewed vigor.
As a result of the study, experts concluded that lung cancer is extremely important to diagnose in the early stages of the disease, until the tumor acquires a genetic unevenness.
One of the effective methods for early diagnosis of lung cancer can be a blood test on the tumor's DNA. Such an analysis has already been developed by some biotechnology companies. This type of diagnosis will identify the process at the initial stage, which is especially important for smokers, both for the present and for the former.
According to the World Health Organization, the world has recorded the highest incidence and mortality from malignant lung formations.