NPR's Joe Palca reports that researchers for the first time are reporting possible success using gene therapy to treat lung cancer. Researchers at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston conducted an experiment in which they attempted to compensate for damage to a gene involved in lung cancer known as P53 in nine patients who had failed to respond to standard therapy. Three patients showed regression of their tumors, and in three others, tumor growth appeared to stop. Although the findings are promising, the researchers cautioned that they are very preliminary.
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