ACTA FAC MED NAISS 2008; 25 (3): 139-144

Professional article

THE ROLE OF PROTO-ONCOGENES AND STIMULATION OF GROWTH FACTOR RECEPTORS IN CANCEROGENESIS OF NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER

Ljiljana Vasic


Clinical Centre Kragujevac,
Department of Oncology,
Department of Radiotherapy

 SUMMARY

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is of great interest in human pathology because its apparent aggressiveness cannot be stopped by applied treatment procedures. The lack of highly specific screening tests prevents an early diagnosis of the disease. Insidious beginning and diverse and unclear clinical picture are responsible for the fact that most cases are diagnosed at advanced stages. An increasing number of patients and a short length of survival are additional factors that make this disease an imperative in the clinical practice, while vague and mutually dependent etiological factors represent a challenge in laboratory studies of the pathogenesis.
Better understanding of cancerogenesis of lung cancer will give answers to the questions like: "Which molecules are associated with response or resistance to standard treatment?" and "Which of the newly synthesized drugs with ongoing clinical trials has the best clinical response in patients?" Recent studies have shown that molecular markers associated with resistance to cisplatin-based adjuvant treatment include expression of the genes from the group ERCC1 (excision repair cross- complementation group 1) and mutation of RAS proto-oncogenes. Such research suggests that molecular investigations can guide the choice of treatment for both primary and adjuvant chemotherapy. The best example for this is patients' response to chemotherapy when inhibitors of the EGFR tyrosine kinase are applied.
The future of lung cancer treatment lies in development of unconventional drugs which would be based on the biological characteristics of the tumor.

Key words: non-small cell lung cancer, protooncogenes, growth factor receptors