Lung Cancer Blood Test Research Cited in WSJ and VOA
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 24, 2006) − Lung cancer research done by University of
Kentucky faculty members Drs. Edward A. Hirschowitz and Li Zhong continues to attract national
and worldwide attention in media outlets including the Wall Street Journal and the global radio
program The Voice of America.
Because of the extremely high death rate lung cancer carries, Hirschowitz, Zhong and their team have focused their research in a blood test to help identify lung cancer in high-risk people at an early and more treatable stage.
Worldwide, 10 million people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year. And in the United States, Kentucky has the highest incidence and death rate from lung cancer – 49 percent higher than the national average.
The blood test has been under development for the past five years and is not quite complete, but their research has shown it to be 90 percent accurate in correctly predicting non-small cell lung cancer in patients years before any CT scan can detect it. No one else has been able successfully do this until now, thus the interest and attention worldwide.
Although the researchers have received almost $1.5 million in funding for the development of the test from various sources, they recently received an additional $175,000 National Institutes of Health grant to transform the blood test into a format that real-world clinicians could easily use. And with further studies confirming the reliability of the new format, it could become the first blood test to predict cancer since the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test was introduced in the 1970s.
For the next two years, the UK research team will collaborate with the private biotechnology company 20/20 GeneSystems to develop the clinical application for the blood test.
News of the research has appeared in outlets worldwide, most recently in the Wall Street Journal and the global news radio program Voice of America.
Both Hirschowitz and Zhong are faculty in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at UK HealthCare's Chandler Medical Center.
The Wall Street Journal article can be accessed from any university computer connected to the Internet.
You can listen to or read the transcript of the Voice of America interview. The Voice of America is an international multimedia broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, informational, educational, and cultural programs every week to an audience of more than 100 million people worldwide. VOA programs are produced and broadcast in 44 languages through radio, satellite television, and the Internet.
Because of the extremely high death rate lung cancer carries, Hirschowitz, Zhong and their team have focused their research in a blood test to help identify lung cancer in high-risk people at an early and more treatable stage.
Worldwide, 10 million people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year. And in the United States, Kentucky has the highest incidence and death rate from lung cancer – 49 percent higher than the national average.
The blood test has been under development for the past five years and is not quite complete, but their research has shown it to be 90 percent accurate in correctly predicting non-small cell lung cancer in patients years before any CT scan can detect it. No one else has been able successfully do this until now, thus the interest and attention worldwide.
Although the researchers have received almost $1.5 million in funding for the development of the test from various sources, they recently received an additional $175,000 National Institutes of Health grant to transform the blood test into a format that real-world clinicians could easily use. And with further studies confirming the reliability of the new format, it could become the first blood test to predict cancer since the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test was introduced in the 1970s.
For the next two years, the UK research team will collaborate with the private biotechnology company 20/20 GeneSystems to develop the clinical application for the blood test.
News of the research has appeared in outlets worldwide, most recently in the Wall Street Journal and the global news radio program Voice of America.
Both Hirschowitz and Zhong are faculty in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at UK HealthCare's Chandler Medical Center.
The Wall Street Journal article can be accessed from any university computer connected to the Internet.
You can listen to or read the transcript of the Voice of America interview. The Voice of America is an international multimedia broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, informational, educational, and cultural programs every week to an audience of more than 100 million people worldwide. VOA programs are produced and broadcast in 44 languages through radio, satellite television, and the Internet.