New study reveals fresh insights into the spread of lung cancer

A new study from the UK has revealed new insights into the way lung cancer proliferates throughout the body, hinting at potential new avenues for the treating the condition.

The Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute study used microscopic images to examine the TIAM1 protein ties that link cells together, revealing that they are severed in lung cancer cells, which allows them to break loose and spread.

Although healthy cells routinely discard old cell parts to allow them to be broken down and used again, this process can grow out of control in lung cancer cells, which scrap too many of these TIAM1 ties.

The team believes that targeting this process could allow future medicines to keep these cells bound together, thus curtailing the spread of the disease.

Nell Barrie, Cancer Research UK's senior science information manager, said: "Lung cancer causes more than one in five of all cancer deaths in the UK and it's vital that we find effective new treatments to fight the disease and save more lives."

More than 41,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer every year in the UK, with smoking being the cause in around 90 percent of cases.