New UK study to expand understanding of lung cancer

Scientists in the UK are to commence one of the largest ever studies of lung cancer patients globally, in order to reveal new insights into how the disease develops.

The UK-wide study, TRACERx, has been launched by Cancer Research UK and will last for nine years, with the 14 million pound funding allocation being one of the single biggest financial commitments to lung cancer research in history.

Scientists will recruit 850 lung cancer patients from across the country and take samples of their tumour before and after surgery and subsequently if the disease recurs, in order to see exactly how lung cancers mutate, adapt and become resistant to treatments.

A combination of different analytical approaches will be utilised to give a clearer picture of how the disease progresses than ever before.

Professor Charlie Swanton, lead researcher based at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute and University College London, said: "We plan to harness new sequencing technologies to trace the genetic evolution of cancer over the course of the disease."

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK, with more than 38,000 people being diagnosed with the disease each year.