This, the first of two volumes on personalized medicine in lung cancer, touches on the core issues related to the understanding of lung cancer—statistics and epidemiology of lung cancer—along with the incidence of lung cancer in non-smokers. A major focus of this volume is the state of current therapies against lung cancer—immune, targeted therapies against EGFR TKIs, KRAS, ALK, angiogenesis; the associated challenges, especially resistance mechanisms; and recent progress in targeted drug development based on metal chemistry. Chapters are written by some of the leading experts in the field, who provide a better understanding of lung cancer, the factors that make it lethal, and current research focused on developing personalized treatment plans. With a unique mix of topics, this volume summarizes the current state-of-knowledge on lung cancer and the available therapies.

As with other books in the Molecular Pathology Library Series, Molecular Pathology of Lung Cancer bridges the gap between the molecular specialist and the clinical practitioner, including the surgical pathologist who now has a key role in decisions regarding molecular targeted therapy for lung cancer. Molecular Pathology of Lung Cancer provides the latest information and current insights into the molecular basis for lung cancer, including precursor and preinvasive lesions, molecular diagnosis, molecular targeted therapy, molecular prognosis, molecular radiology and related fields for lung cancer generally and for the specific cell types. As many fundamental concepts about lung cancer have undergone revision in only the past few years, this book will likely be the first to comprehensively cover the new molecular pathology of lung cancer. It provides a foundation in this field for pathologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, thoracic surgeons, thoracic radiologists and their trainees, physician assistants, and nursing staff.

Personalized and precision medicine (PPM)—the targeting of therapies according to an individual’s genetic, environmental, or lifestyle characteristics—is becoming an increasingly important approach in health care treatment and prevention. The advancement of PPM is a challenge in traditional clinical, reimbursement, and regulatory landscapes because it is costly to develop and introduces a wide range of scientific, clinical, ethical, and socioeconomic issues. PPM raises a multitude of economic issues, including how information on accurate diagnosis and treatment success will be disseminated and who will bear the cost; changes to physician training to incorporate genetics, probability and statistics, and economic considerations; questions about whether the benefits of PPM will be confined to developed countries or will diffuse to emerging economies with less developed health care systems; the effects of patient heterogeneity on cost-effectiveness analysis; and opportunities for PPM’s growth beyond treatment of acute illness, such as prevention and reversal of chronic conditions. This volume explores the intersection of the scientific, clinical, and economic factors affecting the development of PPM, including its effects on the drug pipeline, on reimbursement of PPM diagnostics and treatments, and on funding of the requisite underlying research; and it examines recent empirical applications of PPM.

This book covers almost all fields of cancer genetics and genomics for personalized medicine. Targeted therapy, or precision medicine, or personalized medicine is becoming a standard treatment for many diseases, including cancer. However, how much do we know about the personalized medicine approach? This lucid book helps undergraduate and graduate students, professional researchers, and clinicians to better understand the key concept of personalized medicine. The most up-to-date topics on personalized medicine in this book cover the recent trends in and updates on lung, gastric, liver, breast, and other types of cancers. Circulating tumor cell, cell-free circulating DNA, and microRNAs are discussed as new diagnostic and prognostic markers for cancer. The avatar mouse model is also discussed for maximizing treatment efficacy and prognosis prediction, and so is microenvironment as a drug resistance mechanism. With classical and new pathological approaches, the book provides a systemic overview of personalized immunotherapies and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, followed by new emerging fields of hereditary cancer, thereby equipping readers to eventually contribute in developing more advanced tools and therapies for curing cancer.

This book describes the molecular mechanisms of lung cancer development and progression that determine therapeutic interventions in the era of genomics, when the rapid evolution in lung cancer diagnosis and treatment necessitates critical review of new results to integrate advances into practice. The text opens with background and emerging information regarding the molecular biology of lung cancer pathogenesis. Updated results regarding lung cancer prevention and screening are discussed, followed by chapters on diagnostic techniques and pathological evaluation. This leads on to a detailed presentation of treatment modalities, from surgery and radiation therapy to standard chemotherapy and targeted agents. The coverage includes resistance to therapy and the emergence of immunotherapy for lung cancer; in addition, the current evidence in respect of small cell lung cancer is summarized. The book presents insights from experts across disciplines to emphasize the importance of collaborative care. Advances in our understanding of issues in geriatric oncology and palliative care complete the comprehensive discussion of lung cancer.

A FRESH EXAMINATION OF PRECISION MEDICINE'S INCREASINGLY PROMINENT ROLE IN THE FIELD OF ONCOLOGY Precision medicine takes into account each patient's specific characteristics and requirements to arrive at treatment plans that are optimized towards the best possible outcome. As the field of oncology continues to advance, this tailored approach is becoming more and more prevalent, channelling data on genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and other areas into new and innovative methods of practice. Precision Medicine in Oncology draws together the essential research driving the field forward, providing oncology clinicians and trainees alike with an illuminating overview of the technology and thinking behind the breakthroughs currently being made. Topics covered include: Biologically-guided radiation therapy Informatics for precision medicine Molecular imaging Biomarkers for treatment assessment Big data Nanoplatforms Casting a spotlight on this emerging knowledge base and its impact upon the management of tumors, Precision Medicine in Oncology opens up new possibilities and ways of working – not only for oncologists, but also for molecular biologists, radiologists, medical geneticists, and others.

Motivated by the explosion of molecular data on humans-particularly data associated with individual patients-and the sense that there are large, as-yet-untapped opportunities to use this data to improve health outcomes, Toward Precision Medicine explores the feasibility and need for "a new taxonomy of human disease based on molecular biology" and develops a potential framework for creating one. The book says that a new data network that integrates emerging research on the molecular makeup of diseases with clinical data on individual patients could drive the development of a more accurate classification of diseases and ultimately enhance diagnosis and treatment. The "new taxonomy" that emerges would define diseases by their underlying molecular causes and other factors in addition to their traditional physical signs and symptoms. The book adds that the new data network could also improve biomedical research by enabling scientists to access patients' information during treatment while still protecting their rights. This would allow the marriage of molecular research and clinical data at the point of care, as opposed to research information continuing to reside primarily in academia. Toward Precision Medicine notes that moving toward individualized medicine requires that researchers and health care providers have access to very large sets of health- and disease-related data linked to individual patients. These data are also critical for developing the information commons, the knowledge network of disease, and ultimately the new taxonomy.

Understanding the genetic architecture underlying complex multigene disorders is one of the major goals of human genetics in the upcoming decades. Advances in whole genome sequencing and the success of high throughput functional genomics allow supplementing conventional reductionist biology with systems-level approaches to human heredity and health as systems of interacting genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. This integrative approach holds the promise of unveiling yet unexplored levels of molecular organization and biological complexity. It may also hold the key to deciphering the multigene patterns of disease inheritance.

Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide among both men and women. Recent advances in prevention, screening and management in the past decade have led to significant improvements in survival and quality of life. Local treatments like minimally invasive surgery, radiotherapy, and image-guided ablation have contributed to improving the effectiveness and tolerability of potentially curative treatments in early-stage, locally advanced, and oligometastatic/oligoprogressive disease. Chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and palliative local therapy options have expanded rapidly, with new regimens showing improved outcomes even for those with widely metastatic disease. This book comprehensively reviews the evidence that has driven personalized medicine, based on a variety of multidisciplinary perspectives by international lung cancer experts.

This, the second of two volumes on personalized medicine in lung cancer, touches upon the recent progress in targeted drug development based on genomics; emerging biomarkers and therapeutic targets such as EMT, cancer stem cells, and the tumor microenvironment; current personalized clinical management and radiation therapy for lung cancers; and the promise of epigenetics and next-generation sequencing for the advancements towards personalized therapy of lung cancer patients. With chapters on state-of-the-art therapies and technologies written by leading experts working to develop novel companion diagnosis tools for the personalized treatment of lung cancer patients, this volume brings readers up-to-date by presenting the current knowledge on the efforts to make personalized management of lung cancer patients a reality.