A class of drugs used to treat certain breast cancers could help fight lung cancers that have become resistant to targeted therapies, according to a study conducted in mice. The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, found that lung tumours in mice caused by mutations in a gene called EGFR shrunk significantly when a protein called p110a was blocked.

Drugs to block p110a are currently showing promise in clinical trials against certain breast cancers, so could be approved for clinical use in the near future, said researchers from the Francis Crick Institute and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in the UK. The new findings suggest that these drugs could potentially benefit patients with EGFR-mutant lung cancers whose tumours have become resistant to treatment. "At the moment, patients with EGFR-mutant lung cancers are given targeted treatments that are very effective for the first few years," said Professor Julian Downward, who has labs at the Francis Crick Institute and the ICR.