[Diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers for lung cancer patients]

Identification of sensitive biomarkers predictive of diagnosis, prognosis and drug sensitivity could have a clinically significant impact on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment strategies. Recently, molecular-targeted therapies have been developed for NSCLC treatment. NSCLC patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations have shown a dramatic response to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKI) such as gefitinib and erlotinib. In addition, target therapies against echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK) fusion protein present in approximately 5% of the Japanese patients with adenocarcinomas are currently under development. In this paper, we reviewed diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers for lung cancer patients.