Perspectives in the treatment of less common mutations in patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma
Abstract
The author presents an overview of current information regarding the state-of-the-art in diagnosing less common driver mutations in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) in association with the current options of treatment targeted at these molecular subtypes of cancer. ln the majority of patients, targeted therapy elicits a rapid treatment response, prolongs the time to tumour progression, extends overall survival of patients, and usually has fewer adverse effects than chemotherapy in a possible combínation with cancer immunotherapy. Most oncogene-dependent lung cancer occurs in non-smokers and in young individuals.
NGS and RT-PCR methods are increasingly used in diagnosing these diseases, with these methods being able to demonstrate the presence of serious comutations that may affect the efficacy of targeted therapy; these tests are also used in repeated evaluation of tu mour DNA in patients after failure of the original targeted therapy.