Topics in thoracic oncology: from surgical resection to molecular dissection

Abstract

Thoracic malignancies include tumours of the lung, pleura and mediastinum. Among those, lung cancer is by far the most frequent entity, and represents the first cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The vast majority of patients are diagnosed with advanced disease, preventing curative treatment (mostly consisting of surgical resection with or without adjuvant chemotherapy) from being performed [1]. Until recently, the treatment of these patients was confined to cytotoxic chemotherapy, which, over the past years, has been optimised through histology-driven decision making of regimens, combination with anti-angiogenic agents and development of maintenance strategies [1, 2]. The median overall survival of patients has been improved from an abyssal 8 months in the late 1990s to 15 months in the most recent phase III trials of the 2010s, but novel strategies are clearly needed [2]. Meanwhile, major progress has been achieved in the understanding of the molecular bases of lung cancer. Data from genomic, expression, mutational and proteomic profiling studies have emerged, first …