The sad truth is that these days, cancer has become more and more common. We all know of family members or friends that have battled this terrible disease. One of the most serious forms of cancer is lung cancer, which can spread quickly and fiercely. Scientists and doctors are constantly trying to develop new drugs that will combat cancer or slow down its progress. Recently, scientists at the Imperial College London identified a drug that might be able to help reduce the tumours that form when you have advanced lung cancer.

This drug, which is hoping to reach the clinical research trial stage next year, apparently wiped out small cell cancer tumours in half of the mice tested with the medication. One of the most positive outcomes of the research is that the drug blocked the cells capability to resist chemotherapy, a very positive development in these studies.

Lung cancer is a serious illness and the small cell version of this cancer can prove fatal. This advanced cancer makes up only 20% of all cases and diagnosis never leads to a good prognosis, with only 3% of patients surviving more than five years. The Imperial College London hopes that their proven studies will lead to the production of the drug which will result in the testing of the medicine on lung cancer patients.

Chemotherapy is an option for this form of intense lung cancer, but many times the cancer grows back just as fast as it shrinks. Cancer cells can also become resistant to chemotherapy due to a hormone called FGF-2. The new drug that has been developed (known as PD173074) blocks the growth hormone and prevents it from attaching itself to the tumour cells. Scientists and doctors are hoping that this treatment will eventually be available in pill form, helping lung cancer patients with their disease.

The drug was initially developed for different reasons but now further research has shown that this medication could have more than one function for people with lung cancer. However, development is far from complete and researchers are hoping to advance swiftly in the next year when it will be taken to clinical trials.

Recent studies for the drug that will treat lung cancer show that there is constant research being done in this field and hopefully these investigations will not stop. The already impressive results so far means that even more effort will go into the development of this drug in the future.

Lauren Potgieter wrote this article for Clinical Professionals and their clinical research
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It would almost seem like a given in this day and age that people would know and understand that smoking greatly increases the risk of lung cancer. Secondhand smoke has even been linked with increased lung cancer risks. Even were a person to never smoke a cigarette or be subjected to secondhand smoke, the possibility of lung cancer remains very real. But smoking cigarettes is nothing short of adding more bullets to a gun being used to play Russian Roulette-eventually, the odds of getting lung cancer will become impossible to ignore.

In a normal body, cells grow and divide in an orderly manner. However, this order can break down. When this collapse in order occurs, cells begin dividing and growing at will and chaos results. This resulting chaos and breakdown of normal cell growth is called cancer.

Normally, cancer will appear as a tumor, or perhaps even the dreaded “growth”. In some cases, the cancer will remain isolated to a particular spot or organ. However, it is not entirely uncommon for cancer to spread beyond its initial area into other regions of the body or organs. Spreading cancer is also known as metastasis. Lung cancer has been known to spread into other organs of the body and speed the demise of the patient.

Tobacco is a known and proven carcinogen. A carcinogen is any cancer-causing agent. However, just because something is a carcinogen does not necessarily mean that coming into contact one like tobacco smoke will not guarantee lung cancer in your future. Scientists can, on the other hand, tell you how much more likely you are to get lung cancer if you continue to expose your body to tobacco smoke.

The risks of lung cancer due to tobacco smoke are too great to ignore. A person smoking one pack a day has increased their odds for getting lung cancer by 30 X’s or more when compared to a nonsmoker. And, the more cigarettes you smoke every day, the greater those odds become. Plus, the number of years a person smokes continually increases their chances of developing lung cancer or other smoking-related diseases such as emphysema.

So, if someone were to quit smoking today after having done so for 10 years, how long do you think it would take for their risks of getting lung cancer to return to normal? Believe it or not, it takes 15 years after a person quits smoking for their odds to equal those of a nonsmoker of the same age-15 years!!

Lung cancer is a merciless killer of thousands of Americans each and every year. It generally takes decades of smoking to lead to the condition but it has been found in people in their 20′s who smoked since they were teenagers. Worse still, lung cancer is a very painful condition that can truly make the last months of life a true burden to bear. While you can still develop lung cancer even if you never smoke, the odds for developing this painful disease increase dramatically when tobacco is part of your life. If you are a smoker, tomorrow may very well be too late to quit so make sure you kick the habit today or prepare to see lung cancer in your future tomorrow.

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The smoking of cigarettes is principal cause of lung cancer worldwide. It is reported that 90% of all lung cancer cases are related to smoking of cigarettes. Second hand smoke is another cause of this cancer but it is still related to cigarette smoke.

Asbestos is another cause of cancer of the lungs other than cigarettes. This is due to the continuous presence of asbestos fibers in the lung tissue of people until their deaths. Also, asbestos causes mesothelioma which is a cancer of the pleura of the lung. It is a form of lung cancer. This is a major ailment that afflicts those with long term exposure to asbestos. Many mesothelioma sufferers have successful sued U.S corporations and have won large settlements.

Radon gas is another culprit. Radon gas is a gas that is radioactive in nature and those exposed to it suffer the risk of mutations which can become cancerous. Radon gas is a gas existing in nature and its concentration varies from one location to the other. It can penetrate through soil and leach into homes. Radon gas is the second leading cause of cancer of the lungs in the United States. Have you confirmed the radon gas levels in your house? Please do so today!

Pollution from factories, cars and power plants are another cause of this cancer. Exposure to polluted air increases the risk of developing lung cancer. Do you know for instance that car exhaust is more carcinogenic that cigarette smoke?

The other causes of lung cancer account for 10%.

So apart from minimizing exposure to cigarette smoke, one must also reduce exposure to radon gas and asbestos and chances of developing lung cancer are heavily reduced.

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There are a various risk factors that are linked to lung cancer. The most common known causes are as follows:

Cigarette Smoking

Cigarette smoking is probably the most closely related link to developing lung cancer. A person who smokes two packs or more of cigarettes per day has a one in seven chance of developing lung cancer. Those that smoke one pack of cigarettes per day have a twenty-five times greater chance of developing lung cancer than a non-smoker. In addition, those people that smoke a pipe or cigar have a five times greater chance of developing lung cancer than a non-smoker.

The risk of developing lung cancer increases with the number of cigarettes smoked over your lifetime. Cigarette smoking damages the cells in your lungs. The moment you stop smoking, your lungs begin healing themselves, replacing damaged cells with healthy, normal cells. Your risk of developing lung cancer begins decreasing almost immediately when you quit smoking. Every year that you do not smoke, your chances of developing lung cancer drop further. By the fifteenth year, your chances of developing lung cancer are about the same as those of a person who has never smoked.

Secondhand Smoke

Also known as passive smoking, people exposed to secondhand smoke on a regular basis will have a higher risk of developing lung cancer, even if they do not smoke themselves. Studies have shown that those who live with a smoker have a 24% greater risk of developing lung cancer than most non-smokers. Doctors estimate that about 3000 lung cancer deaths a year are related to secondhand smoke.

Asbestos Exposure

Exposure to asbestos is another well-known cause of lung cancer and mesothelioma – cancer of the pleural lining of the lungs. Asbestos was widely used in construction and everyday products in the late 1800s through the 1960s. Asbestos separates into fine silica fibers that become trapped in the tissues of the lungs. Mesothelioma is inextricably linked to asbestos exposure. There are no reported cases of mesothelioma in people who were not exposed to asbestos either in the workplace or through their environment. A non-smoker who was exposed to asbestos has a five times greater risk of developing lung cancer than a non-smoker who was not exposed. Smoking increases the risk dramatically – a smoker who was exposed to asbestos has a risk of developing lung cancer that is 50 to 90 times greater than that of a non-smoker.

Radon Gas

It is estimated that about 12% of lung cancer deaths can be attributed to radon gas, a colorless, odorless gas that is a natural byproduct of the decay of uranium. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that as many as 15% of homes in the United States have unsafe levels of radon gas, which will account for 15,000 to 22,000 deaths from lung cancer annually.

Air Pollution

Scientists estimate that as many as 1% of all lung cancer deaths are attributable to air pollution. They believe that prolonged exposure to very polluted air can raise the risks of developing lung cancer to about the levels of a passive smoker.
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If you are worried that you may have lung cancer, I would like you to first relax. Understand that detecting lung cancer is a long process, and along the way there are many other reasons for everything that seems abnormal. If you fear that you have detected lung cancer in you or a close loved one, please do not panic, let the doctor make the call.

The first thing I would like to cover is your emotions. I have had many family members who have been tested for lung cancer recently, and even though they are at high risk and they had all the symptoms, they did not have lung cancer. So please, please do not worry until the doctor has diagnosed you with lung cancer. It is not official until then.

If you are experiencing the following symptoms then you will want to tell your doctor right away and get in for a CT scan. The symptoms are: a new, consistent cough, “smoker’s cough” changes, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, chest pain, wheezing, and hoarseness. You also will want to talk to your doctor about any risk factors that you may have.

The CT scan will be able to tell if anything is abnormal around or on your lungs. You may have a nodule or you may have nothing. Many patients will be scared to no end when they have a nodule on their lung, but relax and know that there are many possibilities besides a tumor. For example, my mother’s ended up being fatty tissue, while my grandmother’s was calcium build up.

If you have been told you have a nodule on your lung, you doctor can run various tests to see if it is other possibilities. If it does come back as a tumor after this test, then it is still not time to worry. The next step is a biopsy exam. A biopsy will be able to tell if it is cancerous cells or just a tumor. You are not officially diagnosed with lung cancer until the biopsy results come back as cancerous, and that is very rare compared to the number of people who are tested.

If your results came back as cancerous, then the best of luck to you. Join support groups, and evaluate your life so you are able to share your experience with others and your children. How would you want them to prevent lung cancer? Talk to your doctor about the variety of treatment methods and about how severe your cancer is. The early your stage, the greater chance you have of removing all of the cancer cells.

If your test results came back good, then congratulations, but do not forget this experience and still try to limit your risk factors and prevent yourself from developing lung cancer along with other cancers. Keep yourself healthy and your family healthy. Exercise regularly together. If any of you are at high risk, then work extra hard and bring about a greater awareness in your children about how smoking and drinking can harm them.

For other lung cancer symptoms related articles, please visit http://www.cancertreatment123.com/
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