Recipient organisationNIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre
NIHR supportRecorded as supported by this research centre
PeriodJan 2025 — Sept 2032
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
Around one in six lung cancer patients in the UK have never smoked, yet they face the same question: “Why me?” This study is building a national cohort of these patients to find out. The problem is that lung cancer in never-smokers (LCINS) is poorly understood. Most research focuses on smokers, leaving a gap in knowledge about what causes the disease in people who never lit a cigarette. The team will combine genetic tests on patient tissue and blood with detailed questionnaires about lifetime environmental exposures—pollution, second-hand smoke, workplace chemicals—to identify inherited and acquired risk factors. If the research succeeds, it could lead to a simple blood test that detects early signs of LCINS or assesses a person’s risk. That would change how doctors diagnose and monitor the disease, potentially catching it earlier in a group that currently has no routine screening. It might also reveal new treatment targets. For now, the work is fundamental: building the first detailed UK picture of why a never-smoker develops lung cancer, and laying the groundwork for future diagnostics and therapies.
View original technical description
The purpose of this study is to first establish a cohort of patients with never-smoking lung cancer or with lung cancer that has one of the gene alterations commonly seen in never-smoking lung cancer; and then to try to understand what the links are between the disease and inherited or acquired/environmental risk. Lung cancer in Never-Smokers (LCINS) is responsible for approximately 1/6th of all lung cancers. The cause is poorly understood and there is little detailed information available in the UK about patients who have been affected. The majority of patients with lung cancer have smoked. When someone is diagnosed with lung cancer having not smoked cigarettes a recurrent question is “Why me?”. This study is designed to address that question. We aim to use a combination of genetic and environmental profiling in patients with lung cancer to build an understanding of why an individual may have developed the disease. We will then assess whether signatures of the disease can be picked up in a blood test. For this we need to perform genetic tests on patient tissue and blood and ask questions about previous environmental exposure. We will ask participants to complete a detailed questionnaire about their lifetime environmental exposure and agree to a blood sample to assess a participant’s inherited genetic make-up using their white blood cells. We will also ask for access to archived biopsy tissue or DNA derived from the biopsy that is no longer relevant to clinical decision-making. Participants undergoing surgery will be asked for the study team to have access to their routine surgical and diagnostic specimens. In some participating centres we will also ask for a single urine sample. There is the potential that this work will eventually lead to a new approach to treating, detecting or assessing the risk of lung cancer.
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