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Molecular targeted therapy in the treatment of advanced stage non‐small cell lung cancer ( NSCLC )
Author(s) -
Barr Kumarakulasinghe Nesaretnam,
Zanwijk Nico van,
Soo Ross A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
respirology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1440-1843
pISSN - 1323-7799
DOI - 10.1111/resp.12490
Subject(s) - medicine , targeted therapy , lung cancer , oncology , adenocarcinoma , erlotinib , druggability , chemotherapy , stage (stratigraphy) , cancer research , cancer , epidermal growth factor receptor , gene , biology , genetics , paleontology
Historically, patients with advanced stage non‐small cell lung cancer ( NSCLC ) were treated with chemotherapy alone, but a therapeutic plateau has been reached. Advances in the understanding of molecular genetics have led to the recognition of multiple molecularly distinct subsets of NSCLC . This in turn has led to the development of rationally directed molecular targeted therapy, leading to improved clinical outcomes. Tumour genotyping for EGFR mutations and ALK rearrangement has meant chemotherapy is no longer given automatically as first‐line treatment but reserved for when patients do not have a ‘druggable’ driver oncogene. In this review, we will address the current status of clinically relevant driver mutations and emerging new molecular subsets in lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, and the role of targeted therapy and mechanisms of acquired resistance to targeted therapy.