Researchers Find Novel Mechanism To Predict Survival In Older Women With Early Stage Lung Cancer

LOS ANGELES -- A novel mechanism to predict survival in older women with early stage lung cancer has been uncovered by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, a discovery that may have significant implications for new treatment approaches. For the first time, UCLA researchers linked higher levels of aromatase, an enzyme that naturally makes estrogen from another hormone called androgen, to more aggressive disease and lower survival rates in women over 65 with Stage I or II lung cancer. The discovery not only gives physicians a possible new tool to predict survival, it also may provide a target for therapy using aromatase inhibitors, already approved for the treatment of breast cancer. The study, conducted as part of...