Chemoprevention of lung cancer: concepts and strategies

Abstract

Lung cancer develops in a stepwise fashion, with an accumulation of molecular alterations progressing through preinvasive steps to invasive disease. This progression could be arrested or reversed through pharmacologic treatments, which are known as cancer chemoprevention. Preclinical and clinical findings relating to different classes of candidate chemopreventive agents provide support for this strategy as an active and promising approach for controlling this disease.

Keywords::

• β-carotene
• chemoprevention
• chemoprevention trials
• cigarette smoking
• cyclooxygenase-2
• epidermal growth factor receptor
• field carcinogenesis
• inhibitors
• lung cancer
• multistep carcinogenesis
• retinoids
• second primary tumor
• surrogate end-point biomarkers
• tyrosine kinase inhibitors