Meeting Report: AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death, accounting for one-third of all cancer deaths.  Lung cancer is also the second most common cancer in men (after prostate cancer) and women (after breast cancer).  Over 200,000 people are diagnosed with and about 150,000 people die from lung cancer every year in the United States [a, b].  While surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are routine treatment choices, in the recent years, patients have benefited from the introduction of targeted therapies based on the discovery of mutations in the EGFR and KRAS genes, and EML/ALK translocations.   EGFR mutations are more commonly found in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumors in Asian population (30-40%) than Caucasians (10-15%).   About 4% of the patients carry EML/ALK translocation.


The ongoing 2012 AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer: Biology, Therapy and Personalized Medicine in San Diego highlights some of the recent advances in lung cancer biology, diagnosis and treatment (see below)

The Four Percent Lung Cancer Solution

A small group of lung cancer patients, who carry EML4-ALK marker in their tumor genome, can now look forward to a cancer-free future, thanks to a new drug crizotinib being developed by Pfizer.  This group of patients are generally nonsmokers or had given up smoking long ago, but still have the misfortune of coming down with lung cancer. 

Diagnostic Trailblazers in San Diego Advancing CDx, PGx and PM Goals in Cancer

Yesterday, I attended a half day symposium on companion diagnostics (CDx) efforts in San Diego which was organized by the SABPA Science & Technology Forum.  CDx is the identification and detection of biomarkers to predict whether a drug will work or not in a given patient.  Two successful marketed products are HercepTest (marketed by Dako) for Herceptin and KRAS tests for Erbitux and Vectibix.  San Diego biotech has a rich history and deep investments in diagnostics.  This was reflected in the lineup of various talks.