There is a chance that lung cancer can sit inside of you for 20 years before becoming aggressive out of where.
A new study published on WebMD said that the cancer can sit there for up to 20 years without anybody knowing.
Researchers analyzed lung cancers from seven patients -- including smokers, former smokers and never smokers -- and found that the initial genetic errors that cause the cancer can go undetected for many years, according to the report on WebMD.
They said most of the new cancer-causing mutations are the results of a process controlled by a protein called APOBEC. The large variety of genetic errors found within lung cancers explains why targeted treatments have had limited success against the disease, according to the Cancer Research UK scientists.
Their study was published Oct. 9 in the journal Science.
"This fascinating research highlights the need to find better ways to detect lung cancer earlier when it's still following just one evolutionary path. If we can nip the disease in the bud and treat it before it has started traveling down different evolutionary routes, we could make a real difference in helping more people survive the disease," Professor Nic Jones, chief scientist at Cancer Research UK, said in a news release from the organization.
Survival rates from lung cancer remain "devastatingly low," added study author Charles Swanton. "By understanding how it develops we've opened up the disease's evolutionary rule book in the hope that we can start to predict its next steps," Swanton said in the news release.