BEIJING -- Chinese scientists have conducted a comprehensive proteomic analysis of lung adenocarcinoma, a major lung cancer. This was to understand the pathological mechanism of the disease and make precise treatment plans.

Jointly conducted by researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the cancer hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, as well as other institutions, the research was published in the journal Cell.

Compared with other types of lung cancer, the proportion of non-smokers among lung adenocarcinoma patients is significantly higher, and the pathogenesis of lung adenocarcinoma is more complex. A comprehensive proteomic study of lung adenocarcinoma is key in understanding the disease, discovering drug targets, and making treatment plans.

Researchers have spent more than six years carrying out comprehensive proteomic analyses of tumor tissues from 103 lung adenocarcinoma patients through interdisciplinary research of proteomics, bioinformatics, tumor biology, and clinical medicine.

They obtained a comprehensive molecular landscape of lung adenocarcinoma, revealed molecular characteristics closely related to the prognosis of patients, and identified two major gene mutations of lung adenocarcinoma in the Chinese population.

Tan Minjia, one of the researchers, said the study provides drug targets and prognostic biomarkers, expected to be applied clinically for the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma. It has application value in guiding patients' clinical medication and improving survival time.

He Fuchu, an academician of the CAS, said the research marks an important achievement of the China Human Proteome Project and indicates the importance of proteomics in precision medicine.