5-year lung cancer project set to strengthen Taiwan-US research ties

2019/03/07

A five-year Taiwan-U.S. project on lung cancer research was launched March 5 in Taipei City, reflecting the commitment of both sides to advancing the well-being of the people.
 
 Involving Taipei-based National Yang-Ming University, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and Maryland-based U.S. National Cancer Institute, the project focuses on ethnic differences in the lung cancer genome and epigenetics in related diagnoses. It also encompasses advanced research in immunotherapy and stem cells.
 
 NYMU Vice President Dr. Yang Mu-hwa said lung cancer was the leading cause of death in Taiwan in 2016 and claims on average 9,000 lives per year. It is also one of the deadliest cancers in the U.S., making the disease a common enemy of both countries, he added.
 
 According to Yang, lung adenocarcinoma is the most frequently occurring type of lung cancer in Taiwan and the U.S. Given the different genomes among patients, identification of the genetic mutations responsible for cancer progression is critical in deciding the best treatment strategy and targeted therapy, he said.
 
 Under the initiative, a laboratory will be established at TVGH and staffed with medical experts and researchers from the participating institutes. The facility is to be financed by a fund set up by Nina Solarz in memory of her late husband U.S. Rep. Stephen Solarz.
 
 The nine-term member of U.S. Congress from New York, who died aged 70 in November 2010, proposed numerous bills supporting Taiwan and visited the country several times in the early 2000s.

Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)