New breakthrough in developing more personalized treatments for lung cancer

A study by the University of Barcelona has discovered why the two main types of lung cancer—adenocarcinoma of the lung and squamous cell carcinoma—respond differently to anti-angiogenic therapy, that is, drugs that block the formation of new blood vessels that tumors need in order to grow. The results, published in the journal Cell Death & Disease, show that these differences largely depend on the environment surrounding the tumors, particularly on some very abundant benign cells called fibroblasts. This finding opens the door to the development of more personalized therapies, tailored to the specific characteristics of each tumor's microenvironment.