Lung cancer gene has gender bias
Of all cancers, lung cancer causes the most deaths in the United States. Smoking leads to almost 90 percent of cases, but researchers have been unable to explain why among smokers, women seem to be 2 to 3 times as susceptible to the disease as men are.
A new study may help explain this gender bender. A gene for a protein that promotes lung cancer growth is more likely to be active in women than in men, says Sharon P. Shriver of Pennsylvania State University in State College.