The Telltale Lung
Monday, March 9, 2026
Studying the body’s smallest bacteria gave University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) researchers an idea for how to catch lung cancer at its source.
Led by University of Illinois Cancer Center researcher and UI Health oncologist Frank Weinberg, MD, PhD, the scientists looked at lung cells and fluids from 20 cancer patients. They noticed the patients’ lungs shared a unique combination of molecules. That combination, they realized, is a telltale warning sign that can help them detect, treat and, perhaps, even prevent lung cancer in its earliest stages.
Read the full story in UIC Today to learn more.
“We don’t have any preventative therapies for lung cancer. We want to detect cancer early, and we want to prevent it from happening. This pathway we’ve detected may do both,” said Weinberg, who teaches in the College of Medicine and is a member of the Cancer Center's Translational Oncology (TO) Research Program.
Other UIC authors on the study, which appears in Cancer Prevention Research, include Cancer Center member Alicia Hulbert, MD, also a TO Research Program member.
