[Application of molecular diagnosis to human lung cancer]

Recent developments in the molecular genetics of human cancers shows the importance of multiple genetic alterations in the pathogenesis of these lesions. DNA diagnostic techniques are being introduced rapidly into the clinical laboratory setting. 1) In lung cancer, several oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, such as ras, myc, p53, RB, allelic loss of chromosomes, play very important roles. These genetic changes are being applied to cancer diagnosis, prediction of prognosis or disease metastasis, or response to treatment. 2) Drug resistance is one of the major problems of current lung cancer chemotherapy. Identification of the molecular marker for drug resistance, like DNA topoisomerase gene mutation, in clinical samples will be of great help for choosing chemotherapy regimens. 3) Interindividual differences in susceptibility to lung cancer may be screened using genotyping of the P450IA1 and GSTmu genes. To develop newer diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, detailed investigation of the molecular pathogenesis of lung cancer using clinical samples is essential. I review the present status on these applications of genetic markers to lung cancer diagnosis in this article.