Understanding the differences in the evolution of lung cancer between smokers and non-smokers could be the key to unlocking new treatments.

WEHI researchers Associate Professor Marie-Liesse Asselin-Labat, Professor Daniel Gray and Dr Clare Weeden, along with collaborators, evaluated lung cancer progression in smokers, compared with people who had never smoked, and found substantial changes in the way the body responds.

The research helps explain why immunotherapy isn’t always effective in treating the disease.

The study, ‘Early immune pressure initiated by tissue-resident memory T cells sculpts tumor evolution in non-small cell lung cancer’, is published in Cancer Cell.

This article was adapted from an original article by Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI).