Lung cancer is one of the most frequent causes of cancer-related death in the United States. For patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), chemotherapy, alone or in combination with radiation therapy, is considered the standard treatment. Although this treatment may result in a modest improvement in patient survival, overall prognosis of these patients remains dismal, and the treatment is nonspecific, nonselective, and toxic. Therefore, new therapeutic strategies are needed. During the past decade, several molecules that contribute to lung cancer progression and metastasis have been identified. Growth factors and proangiogenic factors have been the focus of intense research in cancer since therapeutic approaches for their inhibition do exist. The role of these factors was studied in different organs and tumors and was found to be phenotypically distinct. Several molecular targeted therapies have shown efficacy and had been approved for treatment of specific cancers. Most advanced in clinical research for lung cancer are targeted therapies that inhibit the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathways. Others are signaling pathway inhibitors. The first targeted therapy for lung cancer is gefitinib, an EGFR inhibitor, which was approved in several countries in 2003. Goals of molecular targeted therapy studies include the following: better understanding of the exact role of particular growth factors in specific tumors; establishment of new clinical study designs for biological agents; and tailoring appropriate combinations of conventional chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy with biological therapy for specific patients. Achievement of these goals will hopefully lead to incorporation of biological therapy into the current anticancer arsenal, for the benefit of lung cancer patients.

中文翻译：

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晚期非小细胞肺癌的当前治疗：靶向治疗。

在美国，肺癌是癌症相关死亡的最常见原因之一。对于患有晚期非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）的患者，化学疗法单独或与放射疗法结合被视为标准疗法。尽管这种治疗可以导致患者生存的适度改善，但是这些患者的总体预后仍然令人沮丧，并且该治疗是非特异性，非选择性和毒性的。因此，需要新的治疗策略。在过去的十年中，已经发现了几种有助于肺癌进展和转移的分子。自从存在抑制癌症的治疗方法以来，生长因子和促血管生成因子一直是癌症研究的重点。研究了这些因素在不同器官和肿瘤中的作用，并且在表型上是不同的。几种分子靶向疗法已显示出功效，并已被批准用于治疗特定癌症。肺癌的临床研究中最先进的是靶向疗法，该疗法可抑制表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）和血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）信号通路。其他的是信号通路抑制剂。肺癌的首个靶向治疗方法是吉非替尼，一种EGFR抑制剂，于2003年在多个国家获得批准。分子靶向治疗研究的目标包括：更好地了解特定生长因子在特定肿瘤中的确切作用；建立新的生物制剂临床研究设计；并针对特定患者量身定制传统化学疗法和/或放射疗法与生物疗法的适当组合。这些目标的实现将有希望将生物疗法纳入当前的抗癌药库，以造福肺癌患者。