Treatment For Non Small Cell Lung Cancer In Distinct Patient Populations

Providing a historical perspective on the etiology of lung cancer, this comprehensive reference presents an in-depth analysis of the epidemiology of cancer of the lung-describing the current understanding of risk factors and the use of epidemiological data to design programs for the control of this leading cause of death worldwide.

As with other books in the Molecular Pathology Library Series, Molecular Pathology of Lung Cancer bridges the gap between the molecular specialist and the clinical practitioner, including the surgical pathologist who now has a key role in decisions regarding molecular targeted therapy for lung cancer. Molecular Pathology of Lung Cancer provides the latest information and current insights into the molecular basis for lung cancer, including precursor and preinvasive lesions, molecular diagnosis, molecular targeted therapy, molecular prognosis, molecular radiology and related fields for lung cancer generally and for the specific cell types. As many fundamental concepts about lung cancer have undergone revision in only the past few years, this book will likely be the first to comprehensively cover the new molecular pathology of lung cancer. It provides a foundation in this field for pathologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, thoracic surgeons, thoracic radiologists and their trainees, physician assistants, and nursing staff.

Defining the Lung Cancer Problem 1 Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the world. It kills almost as many Americans as cancers of the breast, prostate, colon, rectum, pancreas, and 2 kidney combined, and accounts for 28.6% of all US cancer deaths. With an increase in the 5-year relative survival rate from 13% to only 16% in the more than 2 30 years from 1974 to the present, it will take us another 840 years to eradicate lung cancer deaths if we do not improve the current rate of progress. As discussed in this text, lung cancer prevention has received substantial att- tion. The decrease in smoking in recent decades has helped, but smoking is not the only problem. Lung cancer in people who have never smoked is currently the 5th 3 leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Several factors contribute to the lethality of lung cancer, including the rapidity of tumor growth, advanced stage at diagnosis (due to nonspecificity of early sy- toms and the uncertain efficacy of screening), early development of metastases, and resistance to therapy. Several chapters in this book discuss new molecular targets that may be potentially exploitable in the future, as well as discussing our track record to date in exploiting them.

Lung cancer still remains a challenging disease with a higher mortality rate in comparison to other cancers. The discovery of oncogene addicted tumours and targeted therapies responsive to these targets lead to a meaningful change in the prognosis of these diseases. Unfortunately, these newer therapeutic options are reserved to a minor part of lung cancer patients harbouring specific mutations. In the so called wild type population, the first line options bring the median overall survival to go beyond 1 year, and in the population receiving the maintenance therapy over 16 months. Given these results, more than 60% of patients may receive a second line therapy with further opportunities to improve the length and quality of life. For patients not harbouring targetable DNA mutations newer options will be available for second line therapeutic schemes and two major assets seem to be promising: immune modulation and anti-angiogenetic agents. In particular, anti PD1/PDL1 antibodies, VEGFR antibodies and TKIs, these latter combined with standard chemotherapy docetaxel advance the median overall survival of 12 months. These drugs have a different mechanism of action, various adverse events and their activity is different depending on the types of population. However, the biomarkers’ activity and efficacy prediction are not fully or totally understood. In addition, also for patients with DNA targetable mutations new drugs seems to be promising for the use in the second line therapeutic protocols. In particular, drugs selectively directed against ALK translocation and mutational events and EGFR T790M secondary mutations seems to be very promising. In this Research Topic we critically discuss the older therapies and the historical development of second line, putting in to perspective the new agents available in clinical practice. We discuss their importance from a clinical point of view, but also consider and exploit the complex molecular mechanisms responsible of their efficacy or of the subsequently observed resistance phenomena. In this perspective, the undercovering and characterization of novel predictive biomarkers by NGS technology, the characterization of novel actors in the signal transduction pathway modulating the response of the cells, the optimization of new diagnostic tool as the evaluation of liquid biopsy and the implementation of more suitable pre-clinical models are crucial aspects dissected too. Nivolumab, nintedanib and ramucirumab probably will give the opportunity to improve the efficacy outcomes for the treatment of wild type tumours in second line therapeutic schemes, but many aspects should be debated in order that these agents are made available to patients, planning ahead a therapeutic strategy, beginning from the first line therapy, to the subsequent ones in a logical and affordable manner. As well, for treatment of mutated tumours, mutated EGFR irreversible inhibitors such as rociletinib and AZD9291, and ALK targeting drugs ceritinib and alectinib will also play an important role in the immediate future. Probably the right way is to give all the available opportunities to patients, but challenges and pitfalls should be carefully debated, and by launching this Research Topic we tried to give some practical insights in this changing landscape.

Lung cancer is the most common form of cancer in the world and a major cause of death. This new book brings together stellar research from around the world. The two main types of primary lung cancer, small cell and non-small cell are examined. The book's scope encompasses the three main types of non-small cell lung cancer: squamous cell carcinoma which is the commonest type of lung cancer and develops in the cells which line the airways; adenocarcinoma develops from the cells which produce mucus in the lining of the airways; and large cell carcinoma gets its name from the large, rounded cells that are seen when they are examined under the microscope. About 1 in 5 lung cancers are small cell, the rest non-small cell. Causes of lung cancer are primarily smoking, but include as well exposure to radon, asbestos, uranium, arsenic, and certain petroleum products. Research and new drugs are appearing with increasing frequency in this field.

This book analyzes all aspects of metronomic chemotherapy, a new approach involving low-dose, long-term, and frequently administered therapy that has preclinical and clinical activity in various tumors. After an opening section on the pharmacological bases of metronomic chemotherapy, including its antiangiogenic effects and impact on immunity, preclinical studies on various classes of drug are discussed. Clinical applications of metronomic chemotherapy in a wide variety of tumors are then addressed in detail, with description of the results of all published studies. The clinical pharmacology of metronomic chemotherapy is also considered in depth, encompassing pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenetics, pharmacoeconomics, and adverse drug reactions. The book closes by describing the role of this therapy in the veterinarian clinic.