Bay Biosciences provides fresh frozen serum (sera) and plasma samples from Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with detailed clinical annotations to a pharmaceutical customer for research.

NSCLC Overview

Lung cancer starts in the lungs, and malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the lung in non-small cell lung cancer. NSCLC accounts for over 85% of lung cancer cases.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 1.8 million people received a lung cancer diagnosis, resulting in 1.6 million deaths . Several types of non-small cell lung cancer exist. The main subtypes of NSCLC include adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma. These subtypes, which originate from different types of lung cells, group together as NSCLC.

Smoking poses the major risk factor for non-small cell lung cancer. Additionally, signs of non-small cell lung cancer include shortness of breath, fever, and a persistent cough that doesn’t go away.

Specifically, NSCLC starts when healthy cells in the lung change and grow out of control, forming a mass called a tumor. Furthermore, a lesion, or a nodule, can also develop.

Notably, a lung tumor can begin anywhere in the lung. In particular, a tumor can be cancerous or benign. Once, a cancerous lung tumor grows, it may shed cancer cells. Consequently, these cells can get carried away in blood or float away in the fluid.

Lymph nodes, which help fight infection, are small, bean-shaped organs found in the lungs, the center of the chest, and elsewhere in the body. In addition, the natural flow of lymph out of the lungs moves toward the center of the chest, which explains why lung cancer often spreads there first.

Furthermore, when a cancer cell moves into a lymph node or to a distant part of the body through the bloodstream, we call it metastasis.

Types of NSCLC

Epithelial cells initiate NSCLC. Furthermore, doctors find it important to distinguish between lung cancer that originates in the squamous cells and lung cancer that originates in other cells. In addition, they use this information to determine treatment options. Moreover, the appearance of the cancer under a microscope determines the type of NSCLC.

Consequently, following are the different types of NSCLC:

  • Adenocarcinoma
  • Squamous cell carcinoma
  • Large cell carcinoma
  • NSCLC-NOS (not otherwise specified) or NSCLC undifferentiated

Signs and Symptoms of NSCLC

Following are the common signs and symptoms of NSCLC:

  • Cough
  • Fatigue
  • Shortness of breath
  • Chest pain, if a tumor spreads to the lining of the lung or other parts of the body near the lungs
  • Loss of appetite
  • Coughing up phlegm or mucus
  • Coughing up blood
  • Unintentional weight loss
  • Hoarseness

NSCLC can spread anywhere in the body through a process called metastasis. It most commonly spreads to the lymph nodes, other parts of the lungs, bones, brain, liver, and structures near the kidneys called the adrenal glands. Metastases from NSCLC can cause:

Symptoms such as fatigue, fever, pain, cough, feeling sick, and loss of appetite are not necessarily caused by metastases. A person can feel unwell in a general way due to cancer anywhere in the body.

Weight loss and muscle loss can be caused by loss of appetite. A person’s ability to breathe can be further worsened by fatigue and weakness. Weakness and loss of mobility can also be contributed to by muscle loss.

Once the cancer is diagnosed, an important part of cancer care and treatment is relieving symptoms. This may be referred to as palliative care or supportive care. It is often started soon after the cancer diagnosis and continued throughout treatment.

Causes of NSCLC

Researchers do not know the exact causes of developing lung cancer, but they know many of the risk factors for developing lung cancers and how some of them cause cells to become cancerous.

Smoking

Smoking leads to lung cancer more than any other cause. Smokers cause about 80% of lung cancer deaths, and many others experience deaths due to exposure to secondhand smoke.

Clearly, smoking serves as the strongest risk factor for lung cancer, but it often interacts with other factors.

Smokers who are exposed to other known risk factors such as radon and asbestos face an even higher risk. Not everyone who smokes develops lung cancer, so other factors like genetics probably play a role as well.

Causes in non-smokers

Not all patients who develop lung cancer smoke. Many people with lung cancer used to smoke, but many others never smoked at all.

Rarely, someone who has never smoked gets diagnosed with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), but it can happen. Exposure to radon, secondhand smoke, air pollution, or other factors can cause lung cancer in non-smokers.

Certain workplace exposures to asbestos, diesel or exhaust, or other chemicals can also cause lung cancers in some people who don’t smoke.

Lung cancers that non-smokers develop often differ from those that smokers develop. They tend to affect younger people and often exhibit certain gene changes that differ from those in tumors found in smokers. In some cases, doctors can use these gene changes to guide treatment.

Gene changes that may lead to lung Cancer

Researchers know how certain risk factors for lung cancer can cause changes in the DNA of lung cells. These changes can lead to abnormal cell growth and, sometimes, cancer.

The genes in our cells are made up of DNA, which controls how our cells function. DNA, inherited from both our parents, affects more than just our appearance. It also influences our risk for developing certain diseases, including some kinds of cancer.

Some genes help control when cells grow, divide to make new cells, and die.

  • Specifically, researchers call genes that help cells grow, divide, or stay alive oncogenes.
  • In contrast, scientists identify genes that help control cell division or cause cells to die at the right time as tumor suppressor genes. 

Furthermore, DNA changes can turn on oncogenes or turn off tumor suppressor genes, leading to cancer. Ultimately, many different genes usually need to change to cause lung cancer.

Inherited gene changes

Some people inherit DNA mutations (changes) from their parents that greatly increase their risk of developing certain cancers. However, researchers do not think that inherited mutations alone cause many lung cancers.

Still, genes appear to play a role in some families with a history of lung cancer. For example, people who inherit certain DNA changes on a particular chromosome (chromosome 6) have a higher likelihood of developing lung cancer, even if they don’t smoke or only smoke a little.

Certain types of cancer-causing chemicals in the body, such as those found in tobacco smoke, can be broken down or eliminated less effectively by some people. This may increase their risk for lung cancer. Other people possess faulty DNA repair mechanisms that increase the likelihood of DNA changes. Individuals with DNA repair enzymes that don’t function normally may be especially vulnerable to cancer-causing chemicals and radiation.

Some non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) produce too much of the EGFR protein, which originates from an abnormal EGFR gene. Researchers observe this specific gene change more often in adenocarcinoma of the lung in young, non-smoking, Asian women, but doctors also observe the excess EGFR protein in more than 60% of metastatic NSCLCs.

Acquired gene changes

Researchers usually acquire gene changes related to lung cancer during life rather than inherit them. Exposure to factors in the environment, such as cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco smoke, often causes acquired mutations in lung cells. However, some gene changes may occur randomly as events that happen inside a cell, without having an outside cause.

Furthermore, researchers think that acquired changes in certain genes, such as the RB1 tumor suppressor gene, play an important role in the development of SCLC.

Moreover, researchers also believe that acquired changes in genes such as the p16 tumor suppressor gene and the K-RAS oncogene are important in the development of NSCLC. Consequently, scientists observe changes in the TP53 tumor suppression gene and to chromosome 3 in both NSCLC and SCLC.

Finally, not all lung cancers share the same gene changes, so researchers will undoubtedly find changes in other genes that have not yet been discovered.

Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences is, indeed a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Specifically, aamples available include cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma, cancer, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Moreover, Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types.

In fact, our biobank procures and stores fully consented, de-identified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.

Additionally, all our human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

In particular, critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Moreover, patient’s data is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, and other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Specifically, Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples, including cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

For example fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as serum, plasma and PBMC.

Furthermore, Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Therefore, please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Types of Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

Customized Collections

Moreover, we can also procure most human bio-specimens. Furthermore; we offer special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasma, serum, and PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols. Additionally you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

Furthermore, Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.

 

  • 日本のお客様は、ベイバイオサイエンスジャパンBay Biosciences Japanまたはhttp://baybiosciences-jp.com/contact/までご連絡ください。