title: Molecular Targeted Drugs and Biomarkers in NSCLC, the Evolving Role of Individualized Therapy.
abstract: Lung cancer first line treatment has been directed from the non-specific cytotoxic doublet chemotherapy to the molecular targeted. The major limitation of the targeted therapies still remains the small number of patients positive to gene mutations. Furthermore, the differentiation between second line and maintenance therapy has not been fully clarified and differs in the clinical practice between cancer centers. The authors present a segregation between maintenance treatment and second line and present a possible definition for the term "maintenance" treatment. In addition, cancer cell evolution induces mutations and therefore either targeted therapies or non-specific chemotherapy drugs in many patients become ineffective. In the present work pathways such as epidermal growth factor, anaplastic lymphoma kinase, met proto-oncogene and PI3K are extensively presented and correlated with current chemotherapy treatment. Future, perspectives for targeted treatment are presented based on the current publications and ongoing clinical trials.
authors: 1. Pulmonary Department-Oncology Unit, "G. Papanikolaou" General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors: Kalliopi
authors: K
authors: Domvri
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Zarogoulidis
authors: Kaid
authors: K
authors: Darwiche
authors: Robert F
authors: RF
authors: Browning
authors: Qiang
authors: Q
authors: Li
authors: J Francis
authors: JF
authors: Turner
authors: Ioannis
authors: I
authors: Kioumis
authors: Dionysios
authors: D
authors: Spyratos
authors: Konstantinos
authors: K
authors: Porpodis
authors: Antonis
authors: A
authors: Papaiwannou
authors: Theodora
authors: T
authors: Tsiouda
authors: Lutz
authors: L
authors: Freitag
authors: Konstantinos
authors: K
authors: Zarogoulidis
keywords: NSCLC; maintenance; pathways; targeted treatment