Researchers at Ohio University may have found a better way to treat lung cancer that usually doesn’t respond well to standard medicine. A team led by Dr. John J. Kopchick and graduate student Arshad Ahmad recently looked into how growth hormone, the chemical messenger that helps us grow and keeps our metabolism moving, plays a role in keeping cancer alive.

Their study focused on Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), the most common version of the disease that makes up about 85% of cases. The big problem right now is that even with surgery and chemo, many patients eventually develop a resistance to treatment. It turns out, growth hormone might be the reason why.

The Resistance to Lung Cancer Treatment

The team looked at data from hundreds of patients and found that lung tumors had much higher levels of growth hormone receptors than healthy tissue. Even more telling was the survival rate. Patients with low levels of these receptors lived about 66 months on average, while those with high levels only lived about 36 to 40 months.

In the lab, the researchers saw that growth hormone acts like a shield for cancer. It essentially turns on “pumps” that push chemotherapy drugs right back out of the cancer cells before they can work. It also makes the cells tougher and more likely to spread.

To fight back, the team used a drug called pegvisomant. Dr. Kopchick discovered this drug back in 1987, and the FDA already approved it for a different condition called acromegaly. When they added it to chemotherapy in the lab, the cancer cells suddenly became much easier to kill.

“These findings suggest that growth hormone signaling helps drive aggressive and therapy-resistant lung cancer,” said Kopchick. “By blocking the growth hormone receptor, we may be able to improve the effectiveness of existing treatments.”

So far, the team has mostly seen success in data and cell models. They’ve already seen this combination work on melanoma and liver cancer in mice, so the next step is to see if it does the same for lung cancer.