Advances in target therapy in lung cancer

Herein, we have reviewed and analysed recent literature, published in 2013 and early 2014, in the context of pre-existing data. Considered target therapies were tyrosine kinase inhibitors of active epidermal growth factor receptor mutations (e.g. erlotinib, gefinitib and afatinib), anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangements (e.g. crizotinib) or angiogenesis (drugs under development), or monoclonal antibodies against vascular endothelial growth factor (e.g. bevacizumab) or epidermal growth factor receptors (e.g. cetuximab). The therapeutic project has to consider tyrosine kinase inhibitors in the case of nonsmall cell lung cancer with active epidermal growth factor receptor mutations or anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangement. However, these drugs should not be used in the absence of the targeted genetic abnormalities.