Molecular Biology of Non-small-cell Lung Cancer

Jung Hye Choi

doi:10.7599/hmr.2014.34.1.4

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Choi: Molecular Biology of Non-small-cell Lung Cancer

Review Article

Hanyang Medical Reviews 2014; 34(1): 4-9.

Published online: 25 February 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7599/hmr.2014.34.1.4

Molecular Biology of Non-small-cell Lung Cancer

Jung Hye Choi

Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Guri, Korea.

Correspondence to: Jung Hye Choi. Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University Guri Hospital, 153 Gyeongchun-ro, Guri 471-701, Korea. Tel: +82-31-560-2236, Fax: +82-31-553-7369, jhcmd@hanyang.ac.kr

Received 24 November 2013 Revised 20 January 2014 Accepted 24 January 2014

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

In the past decades, substantial developments in the understanding of molecular biology in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have improved diagnosis and treatment of NSCLC based on the genotype of each patient's tumor. For example, gain-of function mutations of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement are sensitive biomarkers in predicting tumor response and survival to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor and ALK inhibitor, respectively. However, since NSCLC is one of the most complex and heterogenous cancers and the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world, there are still many challenges for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of NSCLC. This review summarizes the molecular biology of NSCLC including activation of oncogenes, suppression of tumor suppressor genes, angiogenesis, epigenetic alteration, microRNA, telomerase, cancer stem cell, and cancer genomics using next generation sequencing methods.

Keywords: Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, Molecular Biology, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing

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