The recent study by the U.S. and Canadian researchers proved that a gene test can determine lung cancer aggressiveness. The researchers claimed that they have developed a gene test to determine usability of radical treatment which can be estimated by the acuteness of the disease. Lung cancer kills 975,000 men and 376,000 women every year.

The researchers studied lung cancer tissues from 442 people. These samples were collected from six cancer hospitals in North America. They confirmed that by measuring the activity of certain genes can help in determining the cases with the most deadly cancer and also the cases which have a better prognosis. The status of lung cancer can help in predicting the most suitable treatment. Patients with aggressive tumors require additional types of potentially onerous treatment, while people with less invasive tumors may be able to avoid such treatment

David Beer, Ph.D., professor of surgery and radiation oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School and co-director of the Cancer Genetics Program at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center said, “We found that looking at clinical data along with gene expression can be a more reliable indicator. Gene expression is not just a black box approach – which a lot of researchers think it is. Sometimes knowing the context actually helps you use that information more efficiently.”