LUNG PATHOLOGY - THE MOLECULAR-GENETICS OF NON-SMALL-CELL LUNG-CANCER

In Australia, lung cancer is the most common malignancy in males and t he largest cause of cancer deaths. Conventional management has not had a dramatic impact on the mortality rates from lung cancer, which has a case-fatality rate of over 90%. Recent developments in molecular and cellular biology have however, contributed to our knowledge oi lung t umorigenesis, which will hopefully translate into clinical benefit for our patients. Many molecular abnormalities are common to both non-sma ll cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) but ther e are differences between these histological types and even within the NSCLC subtypes. This review concentrates on NSCLC, which accounts for up to 85% of Australian lung cancers.(1)