Causes and Consequences of Lung Cancer Heterogeneity |Biomedgrid

Lung cancer is the foremost cause of cancer related deaths in the U.S. The relatively poor outcome in lung cancer patients stems from the fact that the tumor is not considered in the context of its microenvironment while treating the patients. Lung cancer is a heterogeneous disease composed of genetically and phenotypically different tumor cells as well as a heterogeneous microenvironment that constantly interact with each other. Currently, treatment of lung cancer is guided by the genetic alterations identified in the tumor specimen, which is not representative of the whole tumor. Genome wide studies from patient derived lung tumors suggest presence of significantly high numbers of genetic alterations in a single tumor. Epigenetic variations, such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and microRNAs, have also been suggested to play a role in lung cancer heterogeneity. Such cellular variations lead to differential interactions between the tumor cells and the microenvironment and therefore the tumor is constantly evolving. In order to gain a better understanding of lung cancer progression and design effective treatment strategies, studying tumor in context of its microenvironment becomes very important.