Duke researchers discover new origin of small cell lung cancer in study

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — Small cell lung cancer is one of the most aggressive and deadly forms of lung cancer commonly associated with smoking. Now, researchers at Duke Health have uncovered a surprising new origin of the disease.

Inside the lab, Duke scientists developed advanced models to trace how tumor cells evolve and how they might be stopped before the cancer spreads.

For decades, scientists believed small cell lung cancers started in specialized cells called neuroendocrine cells.

The Duke study reveals the cancer likely begins in basal stem cells which can shapeshift into multiple types of lung cells, allowing the cancer to evade the immune system and spread. That discovery could change how doctors detect and treat the disease.

“Now that we realize the tumor is likely arising from these cells, it can help us both find the cancer earlier, hopefully (preventing) it from progressing to these really aggressive states,” Trudy Oliver, PhD professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University School of Medicine, said. “And we also see implications that the immune system responds to these cells differently, with some hope that we can get the immune system involved to go after the cancer more effectively in the future.”

The Duke study was published in the journal Nature.