Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified and described a new gene that is responsible for activating an aggressive subtype of small-cell lung cancer, the P subtype, for which there is no current effective treatment.

"This type of cancer is resistant to a lot of drugs and not many studies focus on it," said lead study author Lu Wang, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "By identifying this important gene, we now have a very good drug target to work with."

"It's devastating to patients and their families when we tell them there is no effective treatment for this type of cancer," Wang said.

Part of the problem is that small-cell lung cancer treatment has remained relatively unchanged, primarily relying on chemotherapy. Most patients will develop chemo-resistance, Wang said, impacting the overall efficacy of the limited available treatment options, and leading to cancer reoccurrence.

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