New finding could 'pause and rewind' lung cancer

A team of Institute researchers has discovered how to stop and reverse the growth of lung cancer with a potent combination of three molecules. The study found that two BH3-mimetics and one FGFR inhibitor were able to block lung cancer cell survival so successfully in pre-clinical models that tumors not only stopped growing, they began to shrink away. The research, led by Dr. Clare Weeden, Ms. Casey Ah Cann and Dr. Marie-Liesse Asselin-Labat from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, was published in Oncogene. Cancer is a disease arising from abnormal cells that have distinguishing traits known to scientists as 'hallmarks'. Hallmarks can also be understood as different 'pathways' that lead to tumors being able to form and thrive.