[Targeting therapy for lung cancer]

Many approaches have been developed to targeting therapy for lung cancer. The representatives types have included photodynamic therapy (PDT), bronchial arterial infusion of anticancer agent and/or embolization, intensification of the effect of drugs on tumor tissue and drug delivery systems (DDS) using liposomes. In our hospital, 195 lung cancer patients, including those with 56 early stage lesions, have been treated with PDT, and a CR rate of 65.2% was obtained. Bronchial arterial infusion (BAI) for clinical N2, in-operable non-small cell lung cancer patients has prolonged median survival time compared to the patients treated without BAI. Combined modalities of chemotherapy and low power laser (He-Ne Laser) irradiation in the experimental animal model have been shown. This combined therapy may permit enhancement of the antitumor effects of routine chemotherapy by reducing the side effects of the drug. DDS using liposomes may well be a major targeting therapy for lung cancer. In our data, trans-bronchial injection of chemotherapeutic drugs encapsulated with liposomes will be most effective for mediastinal lymph node metastasis of lung cancer.