Recent advances in personalized lung cancer medicine

Abstract

The identification of molecular subtypes of non-small-cell lung cancer has transformed the clinical management of this disease. This is best exemplified by the clinical success of targeting the EGFR or ALK with tyrosine kinase inhibitors in the front-line setting. Our ability to further improve patient outcomes with biomarker-based targeted therapies will depend on a more comprehensive genetic platform that can rationally interrogate the cancer genome of an individual patient. Novel technologies, including multiplex genotyping and next-generation sequencing are rapidly evolving and will soon challenge the oncologist with a wealth of genetic information for each patient. Although there are many barriers to overcome, the integration of these genetic platforms into clinical care has the potential to transform the management of lung cancer through improved molecular categorization, patient stratification, and drug development, thereby, improving clinical outcomes through personalized lung cancer medicine.