A new study could lead to ways to extend the lives of patients with a lethal form of lung cancer. A study by researchers at Wayne State University and New York University School of Medicine, published in this week\'s New England Journal of Medicine, finds a molecule that reveals the early stages of pleural mesothelioma, a chest cancer caused by asbestos. "It's called osteopontin, and it's been discovered before, but not really as an early detection marker for mesothelioma, what it means is this is a disease that's usually found late in the course of the disease- and the survival is not good when found late," says Wayne State's School of Medicine's Dr. Harvey Pass. "What has to be done now is take this marker and validate it in big trials. It's important to know that patients who present with early mesothelioma, earliest state, stage one, can have 5 year survival," Pass says.