Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Novel Treatment Strategies

¹ From the Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and the Division of Cancer Pharmacology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston

Prevention of cigarette smoking and early lung cancer detection remain important in our approach to the control of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In recent years, chemotherapy has emerged as a viable option in the treatment of NSCLC. The most impressive and widely confirmed evidence for this is the fact that chemotherapy can eradicate NSCLC micrometastases. Indeed, in some studies employing neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by local surgery, pathology-confirmed complete remission rates as high as 20% have been reported. New agents showing preliminary activity in NSCLC include paclitaxel, vinorelbine, gemcitabine, and irinotecan (CPT-11). Certainly, however, there remains a need for novel, effective single-agent and combination chemotherapies. The seed/soil tumor concept, in which the seed consists of the tumor cells per se and the soil is the stroma containing the seeds, has proven helpful in devising new treatment strategies. Such strategies may include the use of antisoil agents, including antiangiogenesis, anti-invasion, and antimetastasis agents, both separately and particularly in conjunction with established antitumor agents. New therapeutic targets and methods of antitumor agent development based on modern molecular biology and pharmacology will provide a greater opportunity to improve the treatment of NSCLC.