Biomarker-Driven Lung Cancer

Treating sensitizing EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) leads to better outcomes compared with standard chemotherapy.

The FDA has approved the VEGFR-2 inhibitor ramucirumab (Cyramza) in combination with docetaxel for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumor has progressed during or following treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy.

David L. Rimm MD, PhD, from Yale School of Medicine, discusses the need for further research into tissue biomarkers in breast cancer.

The programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) ligand, PD-L1, has become a viable target for immunotherapy in cancer, with multiple antibodies now in development.

Multiple trials are ongoing in NSCLC with immunotherapy agents. As with most cancers, however, there is also a need to identify which types of patients with NSCLC might benefit the most from these new therapies.

Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, MD, discusses adverse events associated with immunotherapies for the treatment of lung cancer.

Checkpoint inhibition has demonstrated efficacy for the treatment of melanoma in several clinical trials. However, biomarkers to predict safety and efficacy of immunotherapies in individual melanoma patients are lacking.

Ceritinib (Zykadia) showed clinically significant antitumor activity in patients with ALK-rearranged non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including those with brain metastases.

Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, discussed the potential of veliparib as a treatment for patients with squamous cell NSCLC in an interview with Targeted Oncology.

Peter Hammerman, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the future treatment of squamous cell lung cancer.

Increasing knowledge of the diverse pathologic and molecular phenotypes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has driven a more complex treatment algorithm in recent years.

Benjamin P. Levy, MD, comments on the role of chemotherapy in the treatment of lung cancer.

Abraham Chachoua, MD, discusses some challenges of treating patients with lung cancer.

Howard (Jack) West, MD, is the medical director of the Thoracic Oncology Program at Swedish Cancer Institute and president and CEO of Global Resource for Advancing Cancer Education.

As with many cancers, early detection (before the onset of symptoms) offers the possibility for less expensive treatment and better outcomes in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Susan Galbraith, MD, PhD, provides an overview of the ongoing phase I/II AURA study.

Brittany N. Bohinc, MD, Division of Endocrinology, Duke University, discusses the potential to use LGR5 as a biomarker in papillary thyroid cancer.

Despite the fact that LKB1 is deleted in nearly one-third of cases of NSCLC, no therapeutic strategies are available to target LKB1.

Paul A. Bunn, Jr., MD, professor of medicine in medical oncology, head of the division of medical oncology, University of Colorado, discusses stopping treatment with a TKI before starting chemotherapy.

Early diagnosis of lung cancer is crucial, because surgery is curative only in the early stages. However, by the time most patients experience symptoms, the cancer has already progressed beyond the point of successful surgery.

The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to pembrolizumab for the treatment of patients with NSCLC who are EGFR mutation- or ALK rearrangement-negative and whose disease has progressed on or following platinum-based chemotherapy.

Heather Wakelee, MD, associate professor, Stanford University School of Medicine, discusses the need to combine agents for the treatment of lung cancer.

Five novel agents for the treatment of patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the lung will be evaluated in the recently launched Lung-MAP trial.

Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, MD, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the implementation of personalized medicine for lung cancer patients.

Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, from Yale-New Haven in Connecticut, discusses the benefit of treating lung cancer with immunotherapy.

The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) began in 2006, with a total investment of $100 million from the National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute for a 3-year pilot period.

Drs. Grace Dy and Hongbin Chen Discuss Systemic Treatment for Metastatic, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Pathology, Associate Director for International Programs, University of Colorado Cancer Center, discusses the importance of biomarkers for lung cancer.

Immunotherapies have shown great promise in the treatment of advanced cancers, including metastatic melanoma and non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC)

Oncogenic driver mutations have been detected in over 60% of the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumor samples surveyed by the Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium (LCMC).