Lung cancer including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (80% of all cases) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death in the western world. The five years overall survival is about 13-17% in the US and Europe. Modern therapies are often ineffective, largely due to the fact that the majority of patients are diagnosed with NSCLC at an advanced stage of the disease, which is linked to poor response to the treatment. The advent of targeted therapies including kinase inhibitors and immunotherapies, has brought promising survival outcomes in patient subgroups that exhibit specific molecular pattern and/or disease stratification. However, even though these new regimens have shown better survival outcomes compared to classic therapies, they would have been more efficient if used at earlier stages of the disease. Similarly, these new therapies could demonstrate greater clinical efficacy if it was possible to predict the apparition of resistance mechanisms in the tumor bulk.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify novel biomarkers that could be used in early diagnosis, guiding initial therapy (both positive and negative predictors) as well as predicting relapse or drug resistance with special regard to new targeted therapies. Without minimizing the importance of other patient-derived samples such as bronchoscopy and lung biopsies, several studies are focusing on the serum as a less invasive material for biomarker identification. Taking advantage of proteomic, transcriptomic and system biology approaches, these emerging studies are focused on soluble proteins, miRNA and circulating DNA.
In this Research Topic we would like to discuss the methods, findings and prospects associated with the discovery of biomarkers that will help in early diagnosis, treatment decisions and drug resistance prediction in lung cancer. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
1) New biomarkers for NSCLC for early diagnosis;
2) Biomarkers associated with the use of targeted therapies in NSCLC (including kinase inhibitors)
3) Biomarkers associated with immunotherapy in NSCLC
4) Biomarkers for prediction of drug resistance
5) Next-generation sequencing and its application in diagnosis of NSCLC
The following article types will be considered: Original Research, Review, Mini review, Opinion, Perspective.
Lung cancer including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (80% of all cases) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death in the western world. The five years overall survival is about 13-17% in the US and Europe. Modern therapies are often ineffective, largely due to the fact that the majority of patients are diagnosed with NSCLC at an advanced stage of the disease, which is linked to poor response to the treatment. The advent of targeted therapies including kinase inhibitors and immunotherapies, has brought promising survival outcomes in patient subgroups that exhibit specific molecular pattern and/or disease stratification. However, even though these new regimens have shown better survival outcomes compared to classic therapies, they would have been more efficient if used at earlier stages of the disease. Similarly, these new therapies could demonstrate greater clinical efficacy if it was possible to predict the apparition of resistance mechanisms in the tumor bulk.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify novel biomarkers that could be used in early diagnosis, guiding initial therapy (both positive and negative predictors) as well as predicting relapse or drug resistance with special regard to new targeted therapies. Without minimizing the importance of other patient-derived samples such as bronchoscopy and lung biopsies, several studies are focusing on the serum as a less invasive material for biomarker identification. Taking advantage of proteomic, transcriptomic and system biology approaches, these emerging studies are focused on soluble proteins, miRNA and circulating DNA.
In this Research Topic we would like to discuss the methods, findings and prospects associated with the discovery of biomarkers that will help in early diagnosis, treatment decisions and drug resistance prediction in lung cancer. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
1) New biomarkers for NSCLC for early diagnosis;
2) Biomarkers associated with the use of targeted therapies in NSCLC (including kinase inhibitors)
3) Biomarkers associated with immunotherapy in NSCLC
4) Biomarkers for prediction of drug resistance
5) Next-generation sequencing and its application in diagnosis of NSCLC
The following article types will be considered: Original Research, Review, Mini review, Opinion, Perspective.
