High-Speed DNA Tests May Be Used To Benefit Patients With Lung, Colon Cancer

Bloomberg News (2/13, Langreth) reports, “More than half of lung and colon cancer patients may benefit from high-speed tests that detect DNA flaws doctors can target with existing medicines,” according to a study published in Nature Medicine. Investigators “used a gene test…to sequence 145 cancer-associated genes in 40 colon tumor samples and 24 lung tumors.” The researchers “found that 53 percent of colon tumors and 71 percent of lung tumors had mutations that may be attacked with cancer medicines on the market or in human trials.”