The evolving paradigm of precision medicine in lung cancer

In this review, we report a complete and updated summary of the most recent treatment advances in the fields of oncogene-addicted disease and provide expert perspectives on the evolving paradigm of precision medicine in lung cancer patients.

The advent of innovative genome sequencing technologies is rapidly increasing the number of targetable molecular alterations in advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), leading to the introduction of novel selective inhibitors into the clinical arena, showing unprecedent tumor responses against rare and elusive NSCLC targets. The results of the ADAURA trial suggested that targeting EGFR pathway in the adjuvant setting is a feasible and effective strategy. The routine use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) is currently recommended as new standard approach to profile advanced NSCLC samples while recent findings suggest the potential application of a plasma-based first approach for tumor genotyping. Innovative umbrella trials provide the right infrastructure to investigate the role of precision medicine in advanced NSCLC, but failed to show clinical benefit.

Implementing NGS-based molecular screening, increasing patients' access to biomarker driven-clinical trials, ensuring equal access to molecular testing and innovative treatments, overcoming disparities and preserve health systems' financial sustainability represents the main challenges of precision medicine worldwide.