Study: Women with Lung Cancer Have Worse Outcomes Due to Genes Linked to Pregnancy

According to a study conducted recently at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center, lung cancer co-opts some genes usually involved in helping fetuses to grow. The lung cancer leverages these genes to evade the immune system of the patient. The researchers found that because of this, women in whom these genes were activated tended to have poorer outcomes.

This analysis suggests that targeting those genes could have a beneficial effect of improving the clinical outcomes of females diagnosed with lung cancer. The researchers presented their findings at this year’s annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research.

Jung Hun, the first author of the study, explains that during pregnancy, a woman’s body produces PSGs, or pregnancy-specific glycoproteins. Produced in the placenta, PSGs play a vital role of supporting pregnancy in several ways, such as preventing the immune system from regarding the developing fetus as a threat to be eliminated.

Earlier research at MSK found that 20% of patients exhibited PSG gene activation in uterus, breast, colon and lung cancer. For patients with this activation, outcomes tended to be worse than in patients without this gene activation.

This latest study sought to establish how men and women’s outcomes differed in cases where PSG gene activation was present among lung cancer patients.

Using machine learning, the researchers found that there were worse outcomes among women in whom PSG gene activation occurred compared to men with PSG activation. Additionally, the data analysis revealed that the prognosis was especially poor for those individuals in whom multiple PSG genes had been activated.

The team learned one possible explanation for the worse outcomes in females; there were modifications to their KRAS pathways. KRAS genes are vital in cell division and growth. When their signaling pathways experience mutations, cell division and growth can go haywire. KRAS gene mutations are common among lung cancer patients. The KRAS modifications in females could therefore be a potential reason why PSG activation results in worse outcomes.

Armed with their findings, the team plans to secure funding in order to delve deeper into studying how PSG activation relates with mutations in KRAS signaling. They also plan to use their subsequent research to understand how pregnancy history as well as genes linked to hormones influence cancer occurrence and outcomes.

As more is uncovered about the way the immune system works to keep tumors from developing or malfunctions and creates an opportunity for cancers to grow, many immune therapies are likely to be successfully developed by companies like Calidi Biotherapeutics Inc. (NYSE American: CLDI) seeking to empower the immune system in the fight against cancer.

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