Gene linked to some smokers’ lung cancer
Acquired defects in the FGFR1 gene could play a role in malignancies, study finds
By Nathan Seppa
An overproduced receptor protein that shows up in a subset of lung cancers may offer a target of opportunity for new drugs and a glimmer of hope for some patients, researchers report.
Excess amounts of a protein known as FGFR1, or fibroid growth factor receptor 1, often show up in smokers who develop a hard-to-treat form of lung cancer, suggesting that tobacco smoke exposure damages the gene encoding this protein and steers cells toward cancer in some people. Researchers report the findings in the Dec. 15 Science Translational Medicine.
Scientists have been investigating the four known FGFR genes for years, and defects in these genes have been linked to cancer of the lung, bladder, uterus, breast and blood, says Lynn Heasley, a physician and researcher at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora who wasn’t part of this study. “This is the first paper where you actually see amplification of the gene in primary [lung] tumors. In that way, it’s an important advance.”
In gene amplification, multiple copies of a defective gene appear and the gene’s protein is overproduced, altering its effect on the cell’s processes. Several research groups have plans to test drugs that inhibit FGFR proteins in cancer patients whose tumors have the gene amplification.