Genomic Alterations in Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is a heterogeneous disease characterized by genomic alterations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. The increased use of genomic profile has allowed a better understanding of the lung cancer biology and the development of targeted therapies with improved efficacy and toxicity profile compared to standard cytotoxic chemotherapy. Nevertheless, most of the targetable alterations occur in patients with adenocarcinoma histology and virtually all patients develop tumor progression after the initial benefit from targeted therapy indicating that novel approaches are still needed to continue to improve the outcomes for patients with advanced-stage lung cancer.