Molecular Diagnosis of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of global cancer incidence and mortality, accounting for an estimated ۲ million diagnoses and ۱.۸ million deaths. The currently used diagnostic tools are not sensitive enough and do not enable diagnosis at the early stage of the disease. Therefore, searching for new methods of early and accurate diagnosis of lung cancer is crucial for its effective treatment. Continuous revision of the histologic and stage-wise classification of lung cancer by the World Health Organization (WHO) provides the foundation for therapeutic advances by promoting molecular targeted and immunotherapies and ensuring accurate diagnosis. Cancer epidemiologic data provide helpful information for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and management, supporting health-care interventions. In this review, we described the advantages and disadvantages of current methods used in diagnosing lung cancer, and we provide an analysis of the potential use of body fluids as carriers of biomarkers as predictors of cancer development and progression. Lung cancer is the result of multistage carcinogenesis with gradually increasing genetic and epigenetic changes. Therefor Screening for the characteristic genetic markers could be useful for the diagnosis of lung cancer at its early stage! This current diagnosis of lung cancer includes different types of imaging complemented with pathological assessment of biopsies but these techniques can still not detect early lung cancer developments. The advancement of molecular strategies and analytic platforms makes it possible to analyze the genome changes leading to cancer development—i.e., the potential biomarkers of lung cancer. While oncogenes that occur in ≤۵% of non-small cell lung cancers have been defined as “rare”, this frequency can correspond to a substantial number of patients diagnosed annually. A surge in the identification of rare oncogene-driven lung cancers has challenged the boundaries of clinical-grade diagnostic assays and profiling algorithms. Sophisticated approaches to proper histological classification and NSCLC management have improved clinical efficiency. Rational drug design has iteratively improved the quality of small molecule therapeutics and introduced a wave of large molecule therapeutics, expanding the list of actionable de novo and resistance alterations in lung cancer. Getting additional molecularly tailored therapeutics approved for rare oncogene-driven lung cancers in more countries will require ongoing stakeholder cooperation.

کلیدواژه ها:

Lung Cancer ، Molecular Landscape ، Diagnosis ، early-stage ، Mortality