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Study ties abnormal cells in blood to lung cancer 

A novel approach detects genetically abnormal cells in the blood of non-small cell lung cancer patients that match abnormalities found in tumor cells and increase in number with the severity of the disease, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

Lung cancer patients in the study also had many times the number of these circulating abnormal cells than study volunteers in a closely matched control group.

"We suspect additional research will show that these circulating abnormal cells are circulating non-small cell lung cancer cells," said study corresponding author Ruth Katz, M.D., professor in MD Anderson's Department of Pathology. "Blood tests for these circulating tumor cells could be used to diagnose lung cancer earlier, monitor response to therapy and detect residual disease in patients after treatment."

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