A Prognosis and Predicting Genetic Study of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer mortality among adults worldwide. The incidence rates of lung cancer among never smoking females in some parts of East Asia are among the highest in the world. The adenocarcinoma of lung being the most frequently identified histological type is more weakly associated with smoking, and often occurs in females and never-smokers. Although family history of lung cancer has been associated with histological subtypes, the inherited susceptibility factors that affect specific histology are unknown.

Genetic factors that determine individual predisposition to lung cancer have been identified via genome-wide association studies. These known common loci, however, explain only a small fraction of the familial risk of lung cancer. The hypothesis of this study is that there are genetic factors that confer inherited susceptibility among patients with primary non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).