Current research into lung cancer

Professor Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK’s Chief Clinician, is aiming to improve outcomes for people with lung cancer. He is running the TRACERx study, one of the largest ever genetic studies of lung cancer patients. This pioneering project aims to follow around 850 people with non-small-cell lung cancer to study how their cancers change over time and why sometimes, treatment stops working.

Sometimes, cancer cells break free from a tumour and enter the bloodstream. Professor Caroline Dive is working with the Christie Hospital in Manchester to develop a way to hunt for these ‘free’ cancer cells in people with lung cancer. They aim to develop a blood test to capture these free cancer cells to understand how lung cancer changes as it grows and spreads, and why sometimes, treatment stops working.

In Birmingham, Professor Gary Middleton is leading the National Lung Matrix Trial. It’s testing new treatments for non-small cell lung cancer that are targeted to specific genetic faults in tumours. The trial has a flexible design, meaning patients who are participating have access to new treatments as they’re developed. These treatments will be matched to the specific genetic faults in their tumours.

Professor Peter Hajek is studying the long-term health effects of vaping in ex-tobacco smokers. He is tracking factors such as breathlessness, weight and numbers of visits to the GP in people who used vaping to quit smoking, compared with people who quit by other means. He will also assess how likely people in these groups are to return to cigarette smoking. These results will help to weigh up the harms and potential benefits of using e-cigarettes as a method to quit smoking.