By Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Chances of surviving lung cancer longer increase when treatment is personalized based on the genetics of the cancer, German researchers report.

Knowing the tumor's genetic signature can help doctors spot differences in cancer cells that may lead to a more accurate diagnosis and better-targeted therapy, the researchers explained.

"Gene classification and diagnosis has a profound impact on patients' survival," said study co-author Dr. Reinhard Buttner, a professor of pathology at University Hospital Cologne.

"Our data were collected from approximately 5,100 lung cancer patients and show that genotyping of lung cancer doubles overall survival in patients with two specific mutations -- EGFR-mutated and ALK-translocated," Buttner said.

Patients with those mutations who received personalized therapies showed survival advantages ranging somewhere between 12 months and 21 months.

The report was published Oct. 30 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The researchers found that although some lung cancer cells look the same under the microscope, they may actually be quite different genetically.

"Systematic profiling of gene mutations in lung cancer allows precise classification and diagnostics and predicts the efficacy of targeted and personalized therapies. Every lung cancer should be analyzed for mutations to find the best therapy," Buttner said.

Surprisingly, looking at two common types of lung cancer -- small-cell and large-cell -- from a genetic perspective actually ended up eliminating large-cell lung cancer as a distinct category, he said.

Read more here:
Gene Testing May Boost Lung Cancer Survival: Study

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