Càncer de pulmó, una revisió sobre el coneixement actual i perspectives del diagnóstic genètic

Abstract

Lung cancer is one of the causes of death around the world, because of its aggressiveness in advanced stages, so investigators proposed early detection and prevention of this disease. Currently, one of the techniques used to tumor detection is the low dose computed tomography, but it has some limitations, which is why they are looking for alternatives that can complement the diagnostic. The objective is to reach a kit of biomarkers associated with lung cancer that can be diagnosed in peripheral blood. This detection could be realized with conventional PCR or real-time PCR, it could determine a low cost technique, could perform the test with relatively short time and there was the possibility of repeating without impact on the patient. The possibility of achieving a method with all of these advantages is what makes it so attractive alternative. So far many research groups have been studying this possibility and they found several regions of the genome in peripheral blood related to lung cancer. Epigenetic changes in DNA (aberrant DNA methylation and microRNA) are leading the molecular markers studied in peripheral blood of Caucasian patients with lung cancer. The aberrant methylation in certain loci has been implicated in carcinogenesis. This may affect genes involved in cell cycle control, DNA repair, cell adhesion, signal transduction, apoptosis and differentiation. MicroRNAs also have been involved in lung cancer, and represent non-coding part of the genome; these molecules may alter the expression of certain genes. The objective of this strategy is to reach sets of biomarkers that display a high sensitivity and specificity, which have high effectiveness in diagnosing this disease in an early stage