“We have made great progress in treating lung cancer, but we still have a long way to go,” said Triparna Sen, PhD, a James scientist who specializes in translational research to better understand and treat lung cancer.

Listen as Sen explains the biology and differences between the two different types of lung cancer (non-small cell and the less common, but more aggressive small cell); the latest treatments, including immunotherapy; and how a better understanding of the biology of cancer cells has led to improved drugs (such as immunotherapy) and better outcomes for patients. She also described how cancer cells are able to adapt and transform their biology and actually become “a new form of cancer.” Once this happens, over the course of several months, the immunotherapy drugs “no longer recognize the tumor.”