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Molecular epidemiology of female lung cancer.

ABSTRACT: Lung cancer is still a leading cause of cancer mortality in the world. The incidence of lung cancer in developed countries started to decrease mainly due to global anti-smoking campaigns. However, the incidence of lung cancer in women has been increasing in recent decades for various reasons. Furthermore, since the screening of lung cancer is not as yet very effective, clinically applicable molecular markers for early diagnosis are much required. Lung cancer in women appears to have differences compared with that in men, in terms of histologic types and susceptibility to environmental risk factors. This suggests that female lung cancer can be derived by carcinogenic mechanisms different from those involved in male lung cancer. Among female lung cancer patients, many are non-smokers, which could be studied to identify alternative carcinogenic mechanisms independent from smoking-related ones. In this paper, we reviewed molecular susceptibility markers and genetic changes in lung cancer tissues observed in female lung cancer patients, which have been validated by various studies and will be helpful to understand the tumorigenesis of lung cancer.

SUBMITTER: Yim SH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3757394 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Molecular epidemiology of female lung cancer.

Yim Seon-Hee SH Chung Yeun-Jun YJ

Cancers 20110401 2

Lung cancer is still a leading cause of cancer mortality in the world. The incidence of lung cancer in developed countries started to decrease mainly due to global anti-smoking campaigns. However, the incidence of lung cancer in women has been increasing in recent decades for various reasons. Furthermore, since the screening of lung cancer is not as yet very effective, clinically applicable molecular markers for early diagnosis are much required. Lung cancer in women appears to have differences ...[more]

PMID: 24212786

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Project description:Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality in many countries. Although recent advances in targeted therapy against driver oncogenes have significantly improved patient outcome, cure of this disease is still exceptional. Although tobacco is a known cause of lung cancer, not all smokers develop lung cancer, and conversely many patients, especially Asian female patients with lung cancer, are lifetime never-smokers. Therefore, efforts to understand the basis for different susceptibilities to lung cancer among individuals with different genetic, biologic, ethnic, and social backgrounds are important to help develop effective preventive measures. Lung cancer in never-smokers has many different characteristics to lung cancer in smokers, such as adenocarcinoma predominance and high frequency of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation yet low number of genetic changes. Epidemiologic studies suggest that East Asians are more susceptible to smoking-unrelated lung cancer but less susceptible to smoking-related lung cancer compared with Caucasians. Mutations in the EGFR gene are more common in Asian females and never-smokers. Our case-control study suggests that EGFR mutation occurs independent of smoking, and that the apparent low frequency of EGFR mutations in smokers may be the result of dilution by smoking-related lung cancer. The frequencies of three EGFR gene polymorphisms associated with increased protein expression are significantly different between East Asians and Caucasians, favoring lower protein expression in East Asians. Although these may be associated with preferred expression of the EGFR mutant allele, it is difficult to explain the frequent EGFR mutation in Asian patients. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) revealed several loci related to lung cancer susceptibility. In the future, GWAS may identify loci that are specifically related to EGFR-targeted carcinogenesis, leading to identification of carcinogens that induce EGFR mutations and effective prevention measures.

Dataset Information

Molecular epidemiology of female lung cancer.

Publications

Molecular epidemiology of female lung cancer.

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