Maulik Gautam, Kijima Takashi, Salgia Ravi
Department of Adult Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Methods Mol Med. 2003;74:113-25. doi: 10.1385/1-59259-323-2:113.
Receptor tyrosine kinases are important in normal cellular physiology as well in the pathogenesis of a variety of tumors, including lung cancer. RTKs are a target for novel therapies currently being investigated. In the clinics, EGFR inhibitors and c-Kit inhibitors are already being utilized, and c-Met inhibitors are in development. Even though the RTK inhibitors provide a novel mechanism, it is important to realize that lung cancer etiology is a complex process, and eventually standard chemotherapy may need to be used in conjunction with these novel therapies to make an important difference in response rates.
