Scientists have made a breakthrough discovery in the recent times. Up until this point, treating lung cancer has been an incredibly difficult task. This is mainly due to the fact that there were no treatments available that specifically targeted these types of cancers.

Collagen is a special type of protein that can be found in our bodies. It helps keep our skin structurally healthy, as well as maintaining the strength of our nails and hair. As it turns out, collagen may change a lot in regards to how the treatments will look like in the future.

So far, it’s a known fact that collagen will slow down the development of lung cancer. Squamous lung cancer is one type of cancers that was relatively untreatable prior to this point, but collagen presents itself as a new hope for combating it in the future.

The research team behind the study was funded by various different organizations, including the BBSRC, the Wellcome Trust, and the ICR. They focused their research on the collagen that can be found in the human kidney. Together, they took a detailed look at the DDR2 molecule, because it can also be found in certain squamous lung cancer growths.

They administered collagen to these DDR2 molecules and found that they responded to the treatment. Simultaneously, they identified a certain weakness in some tissues which leads to the development of lung cancer in the first place. That discovery alone has the power to pave the way into a very bright future of lung cancer treatments.

Medicine doesn’t have a concrete idea about the nature of these treatments, but the research will definitely set some great pointers, meaning the cure can be right outside the door. Previous research made on the subject consistently pointed towards similar conclusions, but now the medical field knows the exact correlation between the collagen and the lung cancer and how they interact with one another.

During the research, the scientists analysed over 400 different collagen-stimulated proteins. That way, they were able to pinpoint the exact one that has the potential to prevent cancer cell growth in lungs.

Another important discovery was made. Proliferation, differentiation, and motility are the kinds of cellular processes that can lead to the development of cancer. But now we know that if the collagen is present, these processes actually have the power to prevent the cancer from developing.

While the exact future of lung cancer treatments still remains a mystery, it’s certain that lung cancers will be treated in a different fashion than blood cancers, for example. Although lung cancer patients typically have relatively low chances of surviving, these discoveries will help to raise them at least by some degree, according to the words of prof. Alan Ashworth, the CEO of ICR.

Not only did the scientists get to know a lot of information regarding what might work as far as lung cancer treatments are concerned, they also received a great deal of information about what types of treatment are less likely to work. These two discoveries combined will likely accelerate the discovery of new and better ways of fighting cancer in the near future.

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