News Releases & Research Results Discovery of novel treatment target and predictive markers of postoperative prognosis for lung cancer frequently observed in the Japanese (lung adenocarcinoma)

The results of collaborative research conducted by Chief Researcher Shinji Kohsaka and Division Director Hiroyuki Mano of the Division of Cellular Signaling, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Associate Professor Takuo Hayashi of the Department of Human Pathology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Associate Professor Kazuya Takamochi of the Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, and others.

• Based on the assessment of 996 cases of non/mild smokers’ lung adenocarcinoma, whole exome sequencing (*1) and transcriptome sequencing (*2) were conducted using a next-generation sequencer for 125 cases (30 males and 95 females), which were negative for overt oncogene expression based on conventional testing.
  *1: Method for efficient analysis of the human genome, selectively focused on protein-coding regions (exome)
  *2: Method for analysis of sequence and expression level of any transcriptional products in a cell (transcriptome).
• Cancerous mutations that could not be detected through conventional testing were identified in 70% of the cases where sequencing was carried out. These mutations, especially the NRG2-fused gene as novel oncogene, have the potential to be a therapeutic target.
• In addition, novel predictive markers of postoperative prognosis were identified to enable estimation of recurrence risk after surgery.

This research was conducted with the support of Practical Research for Innovative Cancer Control and Project for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Evolution (P-CREATE) by AMED.

The results of research were published in Journal of Thoracic Oncology on February 26.

Kohsaka S., et al. Identification of novel CD74-NRG2α fusion from comprehensive profiling of lung adenocarcinoma in Japanese never or light smokers Journal of Thoracic Oncology
DOI：10.1016/j.jtho.2020.01.021