Yale Cancer Center researchers discovered "novel oncogenic gene fusions" in lung and pancreatic cancer, as well as sarcoma, the center said March 15.
"While these fusions are uncommon, they occur in several types of cancer, and our findings suggest a potential treatment strategy for advanced tumors with these fusions," stated Frederick Wilson, MD, PhD, senior author of a paper about the discovery.
The fusions involve an activator of RAS signaling, which promotes cellular changes that can lead to tumor development. Researchers analyzed 103 lung adenocarcinomas in the Yale Lung Cancer Biorepository collected from patients with minimal smoking history. They performed whole-exome sequencing and RNA sequencing on a subset of the tumors and identified an established mutation in 98 of 103 tumors.
Their findings were published March 1 in Clinical Cancer Research.