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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new gene screening test may help determine which lung cancer patients have the potential to live longer.
In 2008, roughly 215,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with lung cancer, which contributes to more deaths than any other cancer. Now a genetic test could help doctors determine which non-small-cell lung cancer patients can profit from taking a second cancer drug in addition to chemotherapy.
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Researchers tested the EGFR FISH test, developed at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, and found patients who tested positive for the EGFR gene live up to twice as long as those who tested negative when treated with both chemotherapy and cetuximab (Erbitux). Cetuximab is a drug that blocks a pathway gene-driven tumors use to grow and spread.
We needed a tool to tell us which patients to put on cetuximab, because it does not make sense to give an expensive drug that gives only side effects for someone it will not help, Fred R. Hirsh, M.D., Ph.D., lead author and a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, was quoted as saying. We believe that EGFR FISH is that tool.
A phase III trial involving 1,000 patients to validate these findings will soon be underway. Researchers anticipate FDA approval of the tool in the near future.
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2008;26:3351-3357
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