Personalized treatment options in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death among both men and women worldwide [1-3]. There are two major groups of lung cancer based on the histological features and response to therapy; non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). NSCLC is also divided to the histological subtypes, and which accounts 80% of lung cancer patients [3, 4] . Despite advances in diagnosis, 5-year survival rates are approximately 15% for all cases [5] . Since EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptors) is overexpressed in more than 80% of NSCLC patients, its overexpression is correlated with poor prognosis and chemoresistance. However, only 10% of EGFR1 overexpressing patients respond to EGFR1 TKI (tyrosine kinase inhibitor) therapy implying that EGFR1 overexpression may not be the main factor responsible for NSCLC development [6, 7]. Therefore, new therapeutic strategies that specifically target other molecular pathways must be considered as alternative options. In this review, we tried to summarize the most recent studies in treatment of NSLC, and made suggestions on the basis of our results and clinical studies.