Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Molecular Biology of Lung Cancer—A Review

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Indian Journal of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Lung cancer is leading site of cancer in Indian males today. The incidence is on the rise. It is generally diagnosed in late stages. The progression free survival and overall survival still remains low. Majority of oncology research today is driven towards molecular profiling of lung cancer. Receptor tyrosine kinases have emerged as major molecular markers and targets. These are the results of gene mutations or amplifications. There are many developed targets where therapeutic option is available like EGFR, ALK, MET, KRAS and so on. This review features on few important molecular profiles of lung cancer, especially with more therapeutic implications.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Behera D (2012) Lung cancer in India. JAPI Med Updat 22:401–407

    Google Scholar 

  2. Rosell R, Danenberg KD, Alberola V et al (2004) Ribonucleotide reductase messenger RNA expression and survival in gemcitabine/cisplatin-treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients. Clin Cancer Res 10:1318–1325

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Bleeker FE, Felicioni L, Buttitta F, Lamba S, Cardone L, Rodolfo M, Scarpa A, Leenstra S, Frattini M, Barbareschi M, Grammastro MD, Sciarrotta MG, Zanon C, Marchetti A, Bardelli A (2008) AKT1(E17K) in human solid tumours. Oncogene 27(42):5648–5650, Epub 2008 May 26

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Choi YL, Takeuchi K, Soda M, Inamura K, Togashi Y, Hatano S, Enomoto M, Hamada T, Haruta H, Watanabe H, Kurashina K, Hatanaka H, Ueno T, Takada S, Yamashita Y, Sugiyama Y, Ishikawa Y, Mano H (2008) Identification of novel isoforms of the EML4-ALK transforming gene in non-small cell lung cancer. Cancer Res 68(13):4971–4976

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Koivunen JP, Mermel C, Zejnullahu K, Murphy C, Lifshits E, Holmes AJ, Choi HG, Kim J, Chiang D, Thomas R, Lee J, Richards WG, Sugarbaker DJ, Ducko C, Lindeman N, Marcoux JP, Engelman JA, Gray NS, Lee C, Meyerson M (2008) EML4-ALK fusion gene and efficacy of an ALK kinase inhibitor in lung cancer. Clin Cancer Res 14(13):4275–4283

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wong DW, Leung EL, So KK, Tam IY, Sihoe AD, Cheng LC, Ho KK, Au JS, Chung LP, Pik Wong M, Jänne PA, University of Hong Kong Lung Cancer Study Group (2009) The EML4-ALK fusion gene is involved in various histologic types of lung cancers from nonsmokers with wild-type EGFR and KRAS. Cancer 115(8):1723–1733

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Inamura K, Takeuchi K, Togashi Y, Hatano S, Ninomiya H, Motoi N, Mun MY, Sakao Y, Okumura S, Nakagawa K, Soda M, Choi YL, Mano H, Ishikawa Y (2009) EML4-ALK lung cancers are characterized by rare other mutations, a TTF-1 cell lineage, an acinar histology, and young onset. Mod Pathol 22(4):508–515, Epub 2009 Feb 20

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Kwak EL, Bang YJ, Camidge DR, Shaw AT, Solomon B, Maki RG, Ou SH, Dezube BJ, Jänne PA, Costa DB, Varella-Garcia M, Kim WH, Lynch TJ, Fidias P, Stubbs H, Engelman JA, Sequist LV, Tan W, Gandhi L, Mino-Kenudson M, Wei GC, Shreeve SM, Ratain MJ, Settleman J, Christensen JG, Haber DA, Wilner K, Salgia R, Shapiro GI, Clark JW, Iafrate AJ (2010) Anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibition in non-small-cell lung cancer. N Engl J Med 363(18):1693–1703

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Sequist LV, Gettinger S, Senzer NN, Martins RG, Jänne PA, Lilenbaum R, Gray JE, Iafrate AJ, Katayama R, Hafeez N, Sweeney J, Walker JR, Fritz C, Ross RW, Grayzel D, Engelman JA, Borger DR, Paez G, Natale R (2010) Activity of IPI-504, a novel heat-shock protein 90 inhibitor, in patients with molecularly defined non-small-cell lung cancer. J Clin Oncol 28(33):4953–4960, Epub 2010 Oct 12

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Paik PK, Arcila ME, Fara M, Sima CS, Miller VA, Kris MG, Ladanyi M, Riely GJ (2011) Clinical characteristics of patients with lung adenocarcinomas harboring BRAF mutations. J Clin Oncol 29(15):2046–2051, Epub 2011 Apr 11

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Gandhi J, Zhang J, Xie Y, Soh J, Shigematsu H, Zhang W, Yamamoto H, Peyton M, Girard L, Lockwood WW, Lam WL, Varella-Garcia M, Minna JD, Gazdar AF (2009) Alterations in genes of the EGFR signaling pathway and their relationship to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor sensitivity in lung cancer cell lines. PLoS One 4(2):e4576, Epub 2009 Feb 24

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Schubbert S, Shannon K, Bollag G (2007) Hyperactive Ras in developmental disorders and cancer. Nat Rev Cancer 7(4):295–308

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Riely GJ, Marks J, Pao W (2009) KRAS mutations in non-small cell lung cancer. Proc Am Thorac Soc 6(2):201–205

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Kong-Beltran M, Seshagiri S, Zha J, Zhu W, Bhawe K, Mendoza N, Holcomb T, Pujara K, Stinson J, Fu L, Severin C, Rangell L, Schwall R, Amler L, Wickramasinghe D, Yauch R (2006) Somatic mutations lead to an oncogenic deletion of met in lung cancer. Cancer Res 66(1):283–289

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Xu L, Nilsson MB, Saintigny P, Cascone T, Herynk MH, Du Z, Nikolinakos PG, Yang Y, Prudkin L, Liu D, Lee JJ, Johnson FM, Wong KK, Girard L, Gazdar AF, Minna JD, Kurie JM, Wistuba II, Heymach JV (2010) Epidermal growth factor receptor regulates MET levels and invasiveness through hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha in non-small cell lung cancer cells. Oncogene 29(18):2616–2627, Epub 2010 Feb 15

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Rikova K, Guo A, Zeng Q, Possemato A, Yu J, Haack H, Nardone J, Lee K, Reeves C, Li Y, Hu Y, Tan Z, Stokes M, Sullivan L, Mitchell J, Wetzel R, Macneill J, Ren JM, Yuan J, Bakalarski CE, Villen J, Kornhauser JM, Smith B, Li D, Zhou X, Gygi SP, Gu TL, Polakiewicz RD, Rush J, Comb MJ (2007) Global survey of phosphotyrosine signaling identifies oncogenic kinases in lung cancer. Cell 131(6):1190–1203

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dinesh Pendharkar.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pendharkar, D., Ausekar, B.V. & Gupta, S. Molecular Biology of Lung Cancer—A Review. Indian J Surg Oncol 4, 120–124 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13193-013-0213-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13193-013-0213-3

Keywords

Navigation