Chicago: A host of new genes, including one that controls the growth of cells significant for lung function, has been turned up while mapping the lung cancer’s genetic landscape by researchers.

According to the US study, published in journal Nature of Tumor Sequencing Project, 57 variations are identified in genetic code – missing, duplicated or mutated DNA. These are commonly found in human lung tumors. Drug therapy could be used for only 15 of these that are linked with disease.

Dr. Matthew Meyerson of the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, said, “It is important to find these alterations in the cancer genome because it can tell us about what causes cancer and how to treat it.”

A gene known as NKX2-1, significant in numerous lung tumors, has been identified in map. NKX2-1 gene controls the activity of alveoli (the tiny air sacs in lungs) that facilitate the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.

“This is a cancer gene that is special for lung cells. This view of the lung cancer genome is unprecedented, both in its breadth and depth. It lays an essential foundation, and has already pinpointed an important gene that controls the growth of lung cells. This information offers crucial inroads to the biology of lung cancer and will help shape new strategies for cancer diagnosis and therapy,”
Meyerson said.

Meyerson, who led the study said, “If you have mice that lack this gene, they don’t make alveoli and they can’t breathe. They die when they are born.”

Study showed that NKX2-1 gene can mutate into one that enhances the growth of lung cancer that kills more than 1 million people worldwide each year, including 150,000 in America.

More than 500 tumor specimens from lung cancer patients were examined by researchers. 90 percent of lung cancers are due to smoking, which cause genetic damage to ordinary cells. A person’s underlying genetic profile is also important, those have never smoked can get the disease.

The discovery of extra copies of HER2 gene involved in breast cancer can be treated with drug Herceptin, made by Genentech.

Meyerson said, “It is not a new discovery but it points out that lung cancer could also be treated with Herceptin.”

“The genomic landscape of lung cancer gives us a systematic picture of this terrible disease, confirming things we know, but also pointing us to many missing pieces of the puzzle. More broadly, the study represents a general approach that can and should be used to analyse all types of cancer,” said professor Eric Lander, a founder director of Broad Institute and a leading member of research team.

Lander added, “Indeed, the study was designed as a pilot project for an even more comprehensive effort to unearth the genetic causes of cancer.”