Non-small cell lung cancer

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    New Insights on Lung Cancer in Younger Patients

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    Lung cancer—in particular, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)—in young people is a topic of great interest. It has been made even more so by the recent publication of a study in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that analyzed over 2,000 NSCLC patients of all ages and resulted in two major conclusions: First, that younger patients (less than 40 years old) have a higher frequency of targetable mutations. Second, that they have relatively poor survival when compared to older patients, except those older than 70 years.

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    ‘Immune Checkpoint’ Drugs Show New Promise for Treating Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    It has become routine practice to prescribe targeted drugs to patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), whose tumors harbor molecular alterations in EGFR, ALK, and ROS. However, the majority of patients with NSCLC have no targetable mutations and lack good treatment options. Enter immunotherapy drugs, specifically ‘immune checkpoint blockade antibodies,’ to which many refer simply as ‘anti-PD-1 drugs,’ or simply ‘PD-1 drugs.’… Read more »

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    New Drugs Aim to Defeat Tumor Resistance to EGFR Inhibitors

    Emma Shtivelman, PhD

    In recent years, many people with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been successfully treated with drugs called EGFR inhibitors. But over time, most patients develop resistance to these drugs, and the drugs stop working. Researchers are hard at work developing new drugs to help patients who can no longer be treated with EGFR inhibitors.