Lung cancer screening encouraged for smokers with a strong family history of t...( Although evidence pointing to a gene ...),Health

"Although evidence pointing to a gene for lung cancer is substantial, the problems associated with the conduct of a linkage study in lung cancer are even greater," said Dr. Schwarz. "The average age of lung cancer diagnosis is 70 years and 5-year survival after diagnosis continues to be poor, at 15 percent, so affected family members are typically deceased, as are their parents, siblings and spouses."

Dr. Schwartz noted that the gene linkage studies conducted to date have been relatively small. Moreover, the regions identified were large showing numerous genes. She also said that many of the regions identified did not overlap exactly between the studies.

"While debate continues about the efficacy of spiral computed tomography screening for lung cancer in broad population of smokers, the ability to focus screening efforts in a truly high-risk subpopulation would clearly be of benefit now," said Dr. Schwarz.

One way the authors suggest to identify high risk groups is to routinely collect data on family history of lung cancer in patients who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an illness that is also strongly associated with cigarette smoking. In addition, data on family history of COPD should be gathered from those already diagnosed with lung cancer.

Finally, the investigators encouraged the funding of larger linkage and association studies to identify genes for both lung cancer and COPD.

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Contact: Suzy Martin
smartin@thoracic.org
212-315-8631
American Thoracic Society
1-Jan-2006

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