Gene Cluster May Predict Lung Cancer Outcome

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"We take patients and either treat or don't treat with specific drugs depending on whether they have a specific mutation," Miller said.

The Taiwanese study is "very interesting," but it needs verification by "larger studies and studies by other groups," he said. One potential problem: Different genes might be more or less important for different ethnicities, Miller said.

"Lung cancer in the Far East may be different than lung cancer in the United States," he said. For example, Miller's studies have shown that most people who develop lung cancer in South Korea are not smokers, whereas smoking is by far the leading cause of lung cancer in the United States.

"It may be different genetics or different environmental factors -- cooking oil, for example," Miller said.

But the genetics of lung cancer is not infinitely complicated, he said. "It isn't different for every individual," Miller said. "It might be 10 or 20 different genes in all."

More information

Find out more about the genetics of lung cancer at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.