Scientists at research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) and the School of Medicine of the University of Navarra have identified a molecule that predicts the prognosis of patients undergoing lung cancer surgery. This work, carried out in partnership with the high school de research Biomedica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), from Barcelona, and the Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, from Santander, has been published in the last issue of the scientific journal Oncotarget, a high impact journal in the oncological field.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death in the world subject . It is estimated that around 300,000 people die each year in Europe from this disease. One of the main reasons is that it is usually initially asymptomatic and is detected in late stages, when the cancer is already very advanced. According to María Villalba, researcher at CIMA of the University of Navarra and first author of work, "when lung cancer is detected early and does not metastasize, the standard treatment is surgery. The problem is that, for reasons as yet unknown, around 40% of patients suffer a relapse, which greatly worsens the prognosis of the disease".

The work of research led by CIMA has identified a molecule, called TMPRSS4, which acts as a prognostic biomarker of lung cancer. "Using complex technological systems called "microarrays" and advanced bioinformatics applications, we have shown that the presence of this biomarker is associated with a higher risk of relapse and shorter survival time," explains María Villalba. These results were validated in samples from more than 400 patients.

From a clinical point of view, the analysis of this biomarker could help to decide whether to follow a patient more closely after lung tumor surgery, due to the high risk of relapse, or whether post-surgical chemotherapy is necessary. In any case, the use of this biomarker cannot yet be applied on the clinical internship , as it requires a strict additional validation process. "Now our priority goal is to develop new drugs that prevent the action of this molecule, as this could slow down the relapse of patients," says the researcher from Navarra. In fact, previous experiments carried out by the same group at research have shown that inactivation of TMPRSS4 slows down the metastasis process in animal models.

In the opinion of Dr. Alfonso Calvo, co-director of work together with Dr. Juan Sandoval, "we must continue working along these lines because we believe that this research, which has arisen from a synergy between work of molecular biologists, physicians and bioinformaticians, could be beneficial for patients. However, the main difficulty we are facing is to raise funds for the research, so we encourage all those who wish to make donations to contact us at contact by e-mail at acalvo@unav.es". 

*Oncotarget. 2016 Mar 14. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.8045.