Non-small cell lung cancer biomarkers and targeted therapy - two faces of the same coin fostered by nanotechnology

ABSTRACT

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the world, non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most frequent subtype (85% of the cases). Within this subtype, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are the most frequent. New therapeutic strategies based on targeted delivery of drugs have relied on the use of biomarkers derived from the patients’ molecular profiling. Several biomarkers have been found to be useful for use as targets for precision therapy in NSCLC, such as mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor, v-Ki-ras2 Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog, anaplastic lymphoma kinase, mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor receptor tyrosine kinase, BRAF, c-ros oncogene 1, P53 and phosphatase with tensin homology. Current developments in Nanomedicine have allowed for multifunctional systems capable of delivering therapeutics with increased precision to the target site/tissue, while simultaneously assisting in diagnosis. Here, we review the use of biomarkers in nanotechnology translation in NSCLC management.

KEYWORDS:

• Non small cell lung cancer
• Adenocarcinoma
• biomarkers
• nanotechnology
• nanomedicines
• precision therapy

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors were supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT/MEC) (Project UCIBIO UID/Multi/04378/2013). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.