On My 2, 2025, researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, UCL, and the University of Cambridge announced they have discovered the ‘cell of origin’ of the second most common lung cancer and the way that it becomes dominant in the lung have been discovered, in a new study in mice and humans.

The study, published in Science, revealed that a population of basal cells found in the windpipe outcompete other cell types and become dominant, eventually invading and occupying large areas of the lung.

It is from these cells, which express a gene called Krt5 that helps to build the structure of cells, that lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) eventually develops. The research team says the findings raise the prospect of earlier detection, and perhaps even prevention, of lung cancer in future.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, frequently presenting at a late, incurable stage. LUSC is the second most common subtype of lung cancer and develops when cells accumulate continuous damage from exposure to toxins, usually from smoking.

The researchers aim to use this knowledge to develop tests to detect the earliest steps towards lung cancer that occur when cells appear normal, in the hope of facilitating earlier interventions. Understanding how these cells become so dominant in the lung may also enable the development of new drugs to stop this occurring, raising the prospect of preventing these cancers in the future.