The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA and funded by a £72,000 grant from the British Lung Foundation, has found that the tumour suppressor gene, LIMD1, is responsible for protecting the body from developing lung cancer - paving the way for possible new treatments and early screening techniques.
Lead researcher Dr Tyson Sharp and his University of Nottingham team, together with US collaborator Dr Greg Longmore, set out to examine if loss of the LIMD1 gene correlated with lung cancer development.
The University of Nottingham team examined lung cancer tissue from patients with the disease and compared it to healthy lung tissue. They found that the LIMD1 gene was missing in the majority of lung cancer samples, indicating that the presence of the LIMD1 gene protects the body against lung cancer.
