IMR Press / FBL / Volume 13 / Issue 13 / DOI: 10.2741/3067

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article
New insights in drug development for the non-small cell lung cancer therapy
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1 Division of Medical Oncology, “S.G. Moscati” Hospital, Avellino
2 Division of Medical Oncology, U.L.S.S.15, Cittadella (Pd) - Italy

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

 

Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2008, 13(13), 5108–5119; https://doi.org/10.2741/3067
Published: 1 May 2008
Abstract

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains a major problem worldwide. Since most patients with NSCLC have advanced disease at diagnosis, to date, chemotherapy, with third-generation platinum-based doublets, represents the standard of care. However, a plateau has been reached with the use of cytotoxic chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC. Advances in the knowledge of tumour biology and mechanisms of oncogenesis have granted the singling out of several molecular targets for NSCLC treatment. To date, erlotinib and gefitinib, epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) inhibitors have been licensed, erlotinib worldwide and gefitinib in Asian countries, for refractory NSCLC. Currently, bevacizumab, an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) monoclonal antibody, is the only clinically available antiangiogenic agent licensed, in combination with carboplatin plus paclitaxel, for first-line therapy of advanced NSCLC patients in the United States. Several new biologic agents are being evaluated in clinical research and some of them, such as ZD6474, sorafenib and sunitinib, due to the reported preliminary results and the oral administration seem to be promising targeted agents for the treatment of NSCLC. Aim of this review is to discuss about the new insights in targeted agents development for the treatment of NSCLC patients.

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