Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: New Rare Targets-New Targeted Therapies-State of The Art and Future Directions.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and the prognosis for stage IV remains poor. The presence of genetic alterations in tumor cells, such as and gene mutations, as well as and gene rearrangements, are indications for targeted therapies. Many such treatments are already registered and used on a wide scale. In comparison to standard chemotherapy, they can prolong not only progression-free survival but also overall survival. Moreover, they are able to provide excellent quality of life and rapid improvement of cancer-related symptoms such as dyspnea, cough and pain. Recent years have witnessed great advances in both molecular diagnostics and new molecular therapies for non-small-cell lung cancer. This review presents new therapeutic targets in NSCLC, as well as drugs of which the activity against , , or gene alterations (including exon 20 insertions) has either been confirmed or is currently being evaluated. Although these particular genetic alterations in NSCLC are generally rare, each accounting for 1-2% of patients, in total about half of all patients have molecular alterations and may ultimately receive targeted therapies.