A new ATS Section on Thoracic Oncology (SOTO) has worked to strengthen the sessions that cover lung cancer at the Society’s International Conference.

Most of the presentations will focus on the clinical advances and scientific discoveries surrounding the early diagnosis and treatment of the disease, which is the leading cancer killer of men and women in much of the world.

“The focus on early-stage disease is different than the focus on advanced-stage cancer that you’d find at oncology meetings,” said Charles Powell, M.D., who co-chairs the new ATS section with James Jett, M.D., and Edward Hirschowitz, M.D. “We believe the sessions will be of interest to pulmonologists, thoracic surgeons and oncologists—and equally valuable to international and U.S. physicians.”

Douglas A. Arenberg, M.D.

On Wednesday, session D82, “Beyond Pack Years: Who Really is at Risk for Lung Cancer?” will cover quantifying lung cancer risk, airway gene expression signatures as predictors of risk, epithelial biomarkers of risk and the search for a familial lung cancer gene.

“An active debate in the lung cancer community is whether screening can reduce mortality, and if so, can it be cost effective,” said session chair Douglas A. Arenberg, M.D. “Even though it is the deadliest cancer, there is no screening program because we have yet to find a screening method that works.  We know that screening works best (and costs less) when targeted toward individuals who are at the greatest risk. That is where the title for the session comes in—we are very poor at defining who is at risk for lung cancer.”

Today, session A88, “The Missing Links: COPD and Lung Cancer, New Insights for Pathogenesis, Prediction, Prevention and Treatment,” will cover the common epidemiological characteristics of lung cancer and COPD, the importance of the shared genetic and epigenetic risk factors, and the new findings about biomarkers, molecular signatures and imaging-derived measurements of each disease.

Steven M. Dubinett, M.D.

“This year’s symposium had its genesis in concepts developed at a workshop focused on understanding the mechanisms driving COPD and lung cancer, which was sponsored by both the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute,” said session co-chair Steven M. Dubinett, M.D., chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. “That workshop brought together representatives of the academic lung cancer and COPD communities to make recommendations for research objectives and priorities. We recognize the importance of understanding the extent and nature of the additional risk for lung cancer that is instigated by COPD.”

On Monday, session B83, “The Influence of History and Molecular Analysis on Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC): ‘Tailored Therapy,'” will feature speakers who will cover histologic typing of NSCLC, standards for molecular analysis in determining treatment and molecular profiling for prognosis.

James R. Jett, M.D.

“At this session, speakers will cover histologic typing of NSCLC and standards for molecular analysis in determining treatment and molecular profiling for prognosis,” said James R. Jett, M.D. “The treatment of NSCLC has changed rapidly in the last couple of years and will change even more in the next five years because our understanding of disease at the molecular level is widening so quickly. Our knowledge of the molecular mechanism in the cancer cell is expanding month-by-month. For example, in 2007, a mutation was discovered—EML4-ALK—and now we already have a new, targeted drug in a phase 1 trial that is showing very dramatic results. That is just three years from discovery to treatment.”

On Monday, another symposium, B5, “Cell Fate Decisions in Lung Development and Repair,” will focus on lung cancer, as will Clinical Year in Review session B2.