About this Research Topic
Precision medicine for lung cancer theragnostic is an advanced model combining prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for individual or specific population diseases to match individual patient differences. The scientific community has recently defined it as a medical care that takes advantage of large data sets of individuals such as their genome or their entire electronic health record to tailor their healthcare to their unique attributes. The two types of treatment most often used in precision medicine are targeted drug therapy (drugs designed to attack a specific target on cancer cells) and immunotherapy (medicines used to help the body’s immune system attack the cancer), however, currently, clinical practice needs algorithms, protein biomarkers, and gene signatures to predict early-stage lung cancer and to response to therapies to avoid wasting time.
In the new era of precision medicine, the definition of new techniques improving the quality of cancer diagnosis and treatment is largely discussed by the scientific community. In particular, liquid biopsy is an emerging non-invasive tool for early diagnosis, typically performed on plasma to identify circulating tumor cells, cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and exosomes. While tissue biopsy remains the gold standard, liquid biopsy can provide information reflecting tumor heterogeneity or metastatic disease. An important limitation of liquid biopsy is its variable sensitivity, depending on the testing platform and tumor extent. Furthermore, in nearly all cases of lung cancer genetic changes are acquired during a person’s lifetime and are present only in certain cells in the lung. These changes, which are called somatic mutations, are not inherited. Somatic mutations in many different genes have been found in lung cancer cells. Advanced genomic testing is designed to help identify the DNA alterations that may be driving the growth of a specific tumor. Information about genomic mutations that are unique to your individual cancer may help doctors identify treatments designed to target those mutations. In particular, the recent next generation sequencing (NGS) testing can provide valuable information on the mutational landscape and the prevalence of common or actionable mutations present in lung cancer patients. On this marked trail, targeted therapy has become increasingly important in treating lung cancer, as defined by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, for whom the targeted therapies are now the preferred first-line agents for metastatic NSCLC among cancers with oncogenic driver-associated mutations. Despite limited approval for early-stage disease, ongoing research will continue to transform this space. NCCN guidelines highlight immunotherapy indications for metastatic and locally advanced NSCLC with resectable disease in adjuvant and neoadjuvant stages. Comprehensive testing at the time of diagnosis is necessary to ensure that all patients have access to appropriate and personalized therapies.
In this Research topic we would highlight the importance of very sophisticated and further approaches against lung cancer in terms of settings of diagnostic tools able to improve the quality of life in cancer patients, and new targets for more tailored treatments.
• Precision medicine and lung cancer theragnostic
• Genetics and Genomics and lung cancer
• Targeted drug therapy and biomarkers
• New techniques for a better quality of cancer diagnosis and treatment
• Liquid biopsy and the future of diagnostic approaches
• Future perspectives in the Era of precision medicine
In the new era of precision medicine, the definition of new techniques improving the quality of cancer diagnosis and treatment is largely discussed by the scientific community. In particular, liquid biopsy is an emerging non-invasive tool for early diagnosis, typically performed on plasma to identify circulating tumor cells, cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and exosomes. While tissue biopsy remains the gold standard, liquid biopsy can provide information reflecting tumor heterogeneity or metastatic disease. An important limitation of liquid biopsy is its variable sensitivity, depending on the testing platform and tumor extent. Furthermore, in nearly all cases of lung cancer genetic changes are acquired during a person’s lifetime and are present only in certain cells in the lung. These changes, which are called somatic mutations, are not inherited. Somatic mutations in many different genes have been found in lung cancer cells. Advanced genomic testing is designed to help identify the DNA alterations that may be driving the growth of a specific tumor. Information about genomic mutations that are unique to your individual cancer may help doctors identify treatments designed to target those mutations. In particular, the recent next generation sequencing (NGS) testing can provide valuable information on the mutational landscape and the prevalence of common or actionable mutations present in lung cancer patients. On this marked trail, targeted therapy has become increasingly important in treating lung cancer, as defined by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, for whom the targeted therapies are now the preferred first-line agents for metastatic NSCLC among cancers with oncogenic driver-associated mutations. Despite limited approval for early-stage disease, ongoing research will continue to transform this space. NCCN guidelines highlight immunotherapy indications for metastatic and locally advanced NSCLC with resectable disease in adjuvant and neoadjuvant stages. Comprehensive testing at the time of diagnosis is necessary to ensure that all patients have access to appropriate and personalized therapies.
In this Research topic we would highlight the importance of very sophisticated and further approaches against lung cancer in terms of settings of diagnostic tools able to improve the quality of life in cancer patients, and new targets for more tailored treatments.
• Precision medicine and lung cancer theragnostic
• Genetics and Genomics and lung cancer
• Targeted drug therapy and biomarkers
• New techniques for a better quality of cancer diagnosis and treatment
• Liquid biopsy and the future of diagnostic approaches
• Future perspectives in the Era of precision medicine
Keywords: lung cancer, artificial intelligence, genetic, genomics, precision medicine
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