New therapeutic target for Lung Cancer

According to research carried out at Seoul National University, a new therapeutic target for lung cancerAbnormal, uncontrolled cell division resulting in a malignant tumour that may invade surrounding tissues or spread to distant parts of the body. has been discovered. 

Research identified that the variant of the proteinCompounds that form the structure of muscles and other tissues in the body, as well as comprising enzymes and hormones. AIMP2 is highly expressed in lung cancer cells and that patients who demonstrate a large quantity of this variant typically have lower survival rates. The findings of the study have been published in the open-access journal PloS Genetics. 

Lung cancer is one of the world’s most common cancers and despite treatment with a combination of surgery, radiationEnergy in the form of waves or particles, including radio waves, X-rays and gamma rays. and drugs the survival rate for patients has not improved greatly in recent years. New therapies are important both because of the high mortality rate associated with lung cancer, but also because most of the drugs are cytotoxic, causing many adverse side effects.