title: Personalized medicine in lung cancer: what we need to know.
abstract: Lung cancer is a complex and often fatal disease. The recent discovery of activating mutations in EGFR and fusion genes involving ALK has set the stage for personalized medicine for lung cancer. Patients selected using biomarkers have benefited from the development of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors and ALK inhibitors with considerable improvement in tumor control and survival. Four key areas of knowledge that are essential to the development of targeted therapy are discussed in this Review: knowing the target, knowing the biomarker, knowing the end point and knowing the mechanisms of resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, State Key Laboratory of South China, Sha Tin, Hong Kong, China. tony@clo.cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: Tony S K
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Mok
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D023381:Endpoint Determination; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics; D018773:Genes, erbB-1; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics; D057285:Precision Medicine; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012107:Research Design
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C522504:EML4-ALK fusion protein, human; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; C512478:EGFR protein, human; D066246:ErbB Receptors