Nonsmokers with lung cancer predominantly have a type called adenocarcinoma and are more than twice as likely to be female than male. Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) is one of the subtypes of adenocarcinoma that has a rising incidence rate and a predilection for striking young women. Lung cancer surpassed breast cancer in 1987 as the leading cancer killer of women and is expected to cause 25% of all female cancer deaths this year. Thus, lung cancer is a major health issue in women and finding new therapy options is vital.

This study focuses on a potential linkage, termed "cross-talk", between epidermal growth factor receptors and estrogen receptors. These receptors are molecular structures that are found on the surface of lung cells and when activated trigger specific functions inside the nucleus of cells, some of which promote cancerous transformation of the cell. Faslodex is a drug that targets the estrogen receptor and has been shown to decrease tumor growth in animals. However, treatment of lung cancer with an antiestrogenic drug like Faslodex could give rise to a population of cells with increased levels of epidermal growth factor receptor because of the possible functional linkage between these two receptors. Increased epidermal growth factor receptor function promotes the development of cancer cells. Iressa is a drug that selectively inhibits the epidermal growth factor receptor and has shown promising results in clinical trials in female lung cancer patients, particularly those with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma. Combining Faslodex with Iressa could prove to be a synergistic, non-toxic combination that could be used over long periods of time to increase tumor cell death more than either agent alone would accomplish.

Lung cancer patients currently have few effective treatment options. Understanding new developments in male-female differences in cancer susceptibility may pave the road for innovative therapeutic approaches for women as well as new screening methods to determine those at greatest risk. This pre-clinical study may provide the basis for a new type of therapy for selected lung cancer patients.