title: Current drugs and drug targets in non-small cell lung cancer: limitations and opportunities.
abstract: Lung cancer is a serious health problem and leading cause of death worldwide due to its high incidence and mortality. More than 80% of lung cancers feature a non-small cell histology. Over few decades, systemic chemotherapy and surgery are the only treatment options in this type of tumor but due to their limited efficacy and overall poor survival of patients, there is an urge to develop newer therapeutic strategies which circumvent the problems. Enhanced knowledge of translational science and molecular biology have revealed that lung tumors carry diverse driver gene mutations and adopt different intracellular pathways leading to carcinogenesis. Hence, the development of targeted agents against molecular subgroups harboring critical mutations is an attractive approach for therapeutic treatment. Targeted therapies are clearly more preferred nowadays over systemic therapies because they target tumor specific molecules resulting with enhanced activity and reduced toxicity to normal tissues. Thus, this review encompasses comprehensive updates on targeted therapies for the driver mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the potential challenges of acquired drug resistance faced in the field of targeted therapy along with the imminent newer treatment modalities against lung cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, MVM Science College, Saurashtra University, Rajkot, India E-mail : rakeshmrawal@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Aditi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Daga
authors.forename: Afzal
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ansari
authors.forename: Shanaya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Sheefa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mirza
authors.forename: Rakesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rawal
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Umrania
mesh_terms: D000077548:Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics*; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics*; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics; D016283:Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras); D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; C522504:EML4-ALK fusion protein, human; C117307:KRAS protein, human; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D000077548:Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase; D066246:ErbB Receptors; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; C482119:BRAF protein, human; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf; D016283:Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras); D018631:ras Proteins