The search for the cause of an inherited form of a rare, aggressive childhood lung cancer has uncovered important information about how the cancer develops and potentially sheds light on the development of other cancers.

The finding by researchers at the School of Medicine, Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the International Pleuropulmonary Blastoma Registry at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota and other collaborating institutions adds the final link to the chain connecting the gene DICER1 to cancer development — something that had been suspected but until now not definitively demonstrated.