Last July, reporting in Clinical Cancer Research, Dr. Giordano's team described a study of 77 tumor samples from patients with surgically resected lung cancer. In related research reported in the August issue of Nature Medicine, Dr. Giordano's team found direct evidence of a potential monkey virus mechanism behind the development of mesothelioma, a rare connective-tissue cancer commonly associated with asbestos exposure. The virus rendered key tumor-suppressor genes ineffective. The finding was particularly significant, Dr. Giordano said, because of the different mechanism potentially involved in causing cancer. In contrast, protein levels in lung cancer tissue are much lower than normal.
Lung cancer is notoriously difficult to treat.
The earlier the disease can be diagnosed, the better the chances are of providing helpful treatment. We would like to run prospective studies as well to be able to anticipate in some patients when cancer might develop. Because he has proven the Rb2 gene is ubiquitous throughout the body's tissues and organs, he believes that the work may have applications to similar diagnostic tests for other cancers, such as breast, ovarian and endometrial. The work will open up an avenue and provide an indication to researchers and physicians . . . Dr. Giordano also hopes to gain a better understanding of how the damaged Rb gene causes cancer.