Wistuba I I, Gazdar A F
Department of Pathology, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, P.O. Box 114-D, Chile.
Verh Dtsch Ges Pathol. 2000;84:96-105.
Our understanding of the molecular pathology of lung cancer is advancing rapidly with several specific genes and chromosomal regions being identified. Lung cancer appears to require many mutations in both dominant and recessive oncogenes before they become invasive. Several genetic and epigenetic changes are common to all lung cancer histologic types, while others appear to be tumor type specific. The identification of those specific genes undergoing such mutations and the sequence of cumulative changes that lead the neoplastic changes for each lung tumor histologic type remain to be fully elucidated. Recent findings in normal and preneoplastic bronchial epithelium from lung cancer patients and smoker subjects suggest that genetic changes may provide in this neoplasm new methods for early diagnosis, risk assessment and for monitoring response to chemoprevention.
随着多个特定基因和染色体区域的确定，我们对肺癌分子病理学的认识正在迅速推进。肺癌似乎需要显性和隐性癌基因发生许多突变才会发展为浸润性癌。几种基因和表观遗传变化在所有肺癌组织学类型中都很常见，而其他变化似乎具有肿瘤类型特异性。导致每种肺肿瘤组织学类型发生肿瘤性变化的那些发生此类突变的特定基因及其累积变化顺序仍有待充分阐明。肺癌患者和吸烟者正常及癌前支气管上皮的最新研究结果表明，基因变化可能为该肿瘤的早期诊断、风险评估以及监测化学预防反应提供新方法。
