In the late 1990s the drug gefitinib emerged as a new means for treating non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type of lung cancer. But doctors found that some patients experienced a cancer relapse within a year of starting gefitinib treatment. For the past several years, scientists have been trying to understand why these patients lost sensitivity to gefitinib and seeking how to overcome resistance to the drug. In addition to developing new treatments for cancer, researchers also have to find ways to predict and track the evolution of cancer.
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