美Duke大学开发了预测肺癌复发危险的基因检测方法

 
一种基因检测能够预测早期肺癌患者是否需要化疗，那些患者能够避免药物的毒性作用。

这种新型检测方法叫做肺Metagene预测仪，能够扫描数以千计的基因，以鉴别个体肿瘤中的基因活性模式，预测那些患者可能会疾病复发。复发的肿瘤通常是致命的，因此鉴别出面临危险的患者进行治疗是十分重要的。

这项检测方法是由Duke大学医学中心(Durham, NC, USA)的科学家发明的，通过检测早期肺癌患者的基因活性，从而得到疾病的转归。Duke大学的科学家在129例患者中通过比较患者的预后证实了基因检测的效果。该项检测预测复发危险的准确性为90％。这些结果在2006年8月的《新英格兰医学期刊》上进行了报道。
 
Test Predicts Lung-Cancer Recurrence Risk
 
A genomic test predicts which patients with early-stage lung cancer will need chemotherapy and which patients can avoid the toxic regimen of drugs.

The new test, called the Lung Metagene Predictor, scans thousands of genes to identify patterns of gene activity in individual tumors that indicate which patients are likely to suffer a recurrence of disease. Recurrent tumors are typically fatal, so identifying at-risk patients is critical to properly treating them.

The test was developed by scientists at Duke University Medical Center (Durham, NC, USA), who analyzed the activity of genes from early-stage lung cancer patients whose disease outcomes were known. The Duke scientists validated the genomic test in 129 patients by comparing the test’s predictions with the patients’ actual outcomes. The test predicted the risk of recurrence with 90% accuracy. The findings were published in the August 2006 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.