Lung cancer different in women

New studies are looking into why lung cancer affects women differently than men; it could be our dear friend estrogen.
Lung cancer will kill 72,000 women this year–more than breast, ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers combined.

[Dr. Kathy Albain] is heading a National Cancer Institute-funded study that is recruiting 720 newly diagnosed lung cancer patients to examine what hormones, genes or other molecular factors explain why lung cancer behaves differently in men and women, smokers and nonsmokers.
“We’re learning what’s going on in the lung, and whether or not this is a real thing that can be exploited for cancer treatment,” she says.
Estrogen already is a leading suspect.

One study reports that estrogen may “act as a fuel for lung tumors just like it does for many breast tumors, and that blocking estrogen with the same drugs that breast cancer patients use might also work in the lungs.� Another study looking at an experimental cancer drug shows that women (who took the drug) with the most estrogen in their blood had the best survival rate. Go figure.
Oh, and stop smoking please.