A new study has identified a number of new driver mutations in lung cancer cells that may be responsive to genomically targeted therapies and to immunotherapy.
The research, recently published in Nature Genetics, examined 1,144 genome profiles of cancers from people with either lung adenocarcinoma or lung squamous cell carcinoma to identify new drivers of lung carcinogenesis.
Of the 58 significantly mutated genes found in the cancers, only 6 mutated genes were shared by both types, which highlighted that the two cancers differ significantly from each other despite arising in the same organ.
The study also identified several predicted neoepitopes that may act as markers to both identify and treat lung cancer. 47% of lung adenocarcinoma and 53% of lung squamous cell carcinoma samples had at least 5 predicted neoepitopes. These figures suggest good prospects for immunotherapy, which has potential advantages over radiotherapy and chemotherapy because in principle it spares the healthy cells.
Lead author of the paper Joshua Campbell, postdoctoral associate at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, noted: "We have identified several distinct recurrent mutations that are likely to be recognised by the immune system and therefore would be strong candidates for cancer vaccines.”
Campbell added that "Future studies are needed to determine what allows a mutation in a gene to cause uncontrolled growth in one type of cell but not in another type. This knowledge will give us a more complete understanding of the molecular pathways involved in tumor growth and help us design better drugs."
The data obtained in the study have been deposited into the most complete database of genetic alterations in cancer cells – the Catalogue Of Somatic Mutations In Cancer (COSMIC).