Our research into lung cancer

TRACERx is our flagship multimillion-pound investment in lung cancer research and is revolutionising the way we think about lung cancer. Since 2014, it's uncovered new insights into how tumours evolve over time and in response to treatments. This vital information has changed how we view lung cancer and opened the door to find new ways to treat it more effectively.

Early TRACERx research revealed that a simple blood test can predict whether a person’s cancer will return after surgery. By detecting traces of tumour DNA in the blood, researchers can tell whether the disease will return up to a year before the tumour is seen on a scan.

Most recently, results from TRACERx have shed light on how air pollution could cause cancer in people who have never smoked. Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute and University College London found that exposure to air pollution promotes the growth of cells carrying cancer-causing mutations in the lungs.

The TRACERx study has also generated a wealth of data that has been made available to other scientists to use. For example, the Cancer Grand Challenges team CANCAN are tapping into this data to explore cancer cachexia – a wasting syndrome many people with cancer experience characterised by extensive weight loss – in people with lung cancer. 

Professor Charlie Swanton, our chief clinician, is the lead investigator on TRACERx. In our podcast Cancer Research Matters, he talks about the profound changes in the way the research community thinks about lung cancer, the power of the translational mind-set and delves into the world of our flagship lung study.

In November 2022, Cancer Research UK announced TRACERx EVO. The TRACERx EVO consortium involves international experts from across Europe and North America – combining world-leading scientific and clinical expertise to build on the wide-reaching foundations laid by TRACERx.