Molecular Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer

Dae Seog Heo

doi:10.5124/jkma.2003.46.1.46

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Heo: Molecular Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer

Special Issue

Lung Cancer

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2003; 46(1): 46-50.

Published online: 31 January 2003

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2003.46.1.46

Molecular Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer

Dae Seog Heo, M.D.

Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University, College of Medicine & Hospital, Korea. heo1013@plaza.sun.ac.kr

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer deaths in Korea. In spite of some improvements, conventional treatments (surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy) did not bring satisfactory solution of this fatal disease.

Recent progress in molecular biology gave us better understanding of pathophysiology of lung cancer. It showed the basic elements of carcinogenesis at the molecular level. New anticancer drugs against molecular targets of cancer cells demonstrated treatment efficacy with acceptable toxicity.

As STI-571 (Gleevec) is effective in chronic myelogenous leukemia, inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor (Iressa and Cetuximab) showed promising results in non-small cell lung cancer. Numerous new drugs against various molecular targets, such as oncogenes or extra-cellular matrix or angiogenesis or COX-2, are under investigation.

Despite numerous obstacles to overcome, there are high hopes that these kinds of molecular targeted therapy will open a new horizon in lung cancer treatment.

Keywords: Lung cancer, Molecular target, Gene therapy, Iressa

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References

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3. Hirsch FR, Franklin WA, Bunn PA Jr. Expression of target molecules in lung cancer: Challenge for a new treatment paradigm. Semin Oncol. 2002. 29:Supplement 9. 2–8.

4. Raben David, Helfrich Barbara A, Chan Dan, Johnson Gary, Bunn Paul A Jr, et al. ZD1839, a selective epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, alone and in combination with radiation and chemotherapy as a new therapeutic strategy in non-small cell lung cancer. Semin Oncol. 2002. 29:Supplement 4. 37–46.

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