Dr. Heymach on New KRAS Subsets in Lung Cancer

John Heymach, MD, PhD, chair of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses a study on KRAS mutations in lung cancer, which led to the identification of three more KRAS subsets.

Heymach says that KRAS-mutant lung cancer and treatment for it is the number one problem in this specific field. In this study, researchers examined KRAS with techniques such as DNA sequencing, mRNA sequencing, immune profiling and proteomics.

It was discovered that KRAS can be broken down into three major subgroups. These groups are believed to be caused by additional mutations, such as P53.

Because of these identified subgroups, Heymach says researchers can now see how they each respond to treatments. In the past, targeted therapies for KRAS mutations were not often effective, but Heymach adds this may change through focusing on a specific subgroup versus KRAS as a whole.

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