Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma: An Overview on Targeted Therapy

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents close to 90% of all lung cancers. When diagnosed, most cases are on an advanced and inoperable stage, with limited therapeutic options. Existing therapies have shown to be insufficient and novel strategies are urgently necessary. New advances in understanding the disease at cellular and molecular level however have helped researchers in devising novel strategies for therapy. These directed therapies limit cancer growth by targeting specific molecules related with tumor progression. Such strategies have shown to be more effective than chemotherapy and radiotherapy and can be complemented to existing therapeutic paradigm in augmenting beneficial outcome. Lung cancer could benefit from such innovative therapy. RNA interference (RNAi) is a sequence-specific gene silencing mechanism and, since its discovery widespread applications have pointed it as a powerful tool in cancer treatment. Several on-going clinical trials have been successfully demonstrating its potential as a novel therapeutic, including in the treatment of NSCLC. Here, we revise the recent findings concerning the therapeutic effects of molecular variations associated with NSCLC and where targeted therapies stand in its treatment, with special focus on RNAi-mediated gene silencing as a powerful strategy for NSCLC treatment.