New Hope for Curing Lung Cancer

China's medical scientists have discovered genetic changes during the development of lung cancer and expressed such changes in gene profiles, providing clues for possible cure for the mortal disease.

The researchers based their study on 588 human genes which are widely held to be closely related with occurrence and development of lung cancer and discovered obvious changes in 43 of the genes.

"It's the first time for such changes to be discovered and expressed in gene profiles, which may provide some important clues for curing the mortal disease someday," said Liu Lianxin, medical expert with the Harbin Medical Sciences University who headed the gene research of lung cancer.

Statistics show that about 320,000 people are discovered to contract lung cancer annually around the globe, 43 percent of them being Chinese. The mortality rate of lung cancer patients are the second highest among all cancer patients in China, since the disease is difficult to discover until into an advanced stage.

Since every human body comprises of tens of thousands of genes, Doctor Liu said he will next study the role other human genes may play in the development of a lung cancer.



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