Lung cancer is projected to cause 160,000 deaths from lung
cancer this year and is now the leading cause of cancer
death in the Unites States. Lung cancer remains the only
major cancer without an accepted screening modality. The
majority of subjects are diagnosed after the spread of disease
to regional or distant sites. This has resultd in only a
15% 5-year survival. Even in subjects diagnosed with early
stage disease, the 5-year survival is only 50-80%. Dr. Vachani
works on several translational research projects evaluating
biomarkers for early detection and prognosis in luyng cancer
and mesothelioma. current projects include:
Detection of Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma Blood
Biomarkers: These projects, led by Dr. David Speicher
(Wistar) and Dr. Albelda, use novel proteomic and genomic
technologies to identify potential biomarkers for the early
detection of lung cancer and mesothelioma. In its later
stages, the project will test the diagnostic utility of
novel markers in cohorts of cancer and controls patients.
Molecular Epidemiology of Lung Cancer: The
role of immunomodulartory gene variants in determining the
prognosis of pateints following surgical resection for MSCLC
will be evaluated in a cohort that is currently being recruited
at UPHS. This project combines traditional epidemiology
and learning laboratory techniques used in molecular epidemiology..
revised 8/09
