Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. and most who are diagnosed with lung cancer do not survive five years. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type where tumor cells shed from the main tumor circulate in the blood and settle in other organs and metastasize.
In some cases, surgery can remove the primary tumor, but investigators from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and MU Health Care have identified a type of cell fusion between cancer cells and white blood cells called a tumor-macrophage fusion (TMF) where the size and number of the TMF cells may predict survival.