Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer. It kills more people in the U.S. than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. When lung adenocarcinoma, the most common primary lung cancer in the U.S., grows into nearby blood vessels (a process called vascular invasion), the tumor is more likely to recur even if surgically removed. Pathologists can identify areas of vascular invasion post-operatively, but surgeons could perform more extensive surgery to lower the risk of recurrence if they could predict which tumors were more likely to have vascular invasion.

Researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine believe they have, for the first time, identified genes whose activity changes in lung tumors with vascular invasion. Additionally, they also discovered that they could detect these changes in small pieces of the tumor collected during a presurgical biopsy procedure.  

Researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a national telephone survey, to better understand how social isolation and physical isolation intersect with material deprivation, including financial strain and inadequate health care access. The study examined six preventive services: COVID-19, flu and pneumococcal vaccination, and breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screenings.