ADVANCES IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF LUNG-CANCER

Lung cancers still represent an incurable group of malignancies, where we have to admit that therapy, be it surgery, chemotherapy or radiati on, still fails. The emphasis in research has centered on exogenous fa ctors causing the initiation and progression of the different types of lung cancer, especially exposure to tobacco smoke. But so far we have learned that endogenous factors play an equal, if not a more importan t role, in the onset of this group of diseases. Cancer arising spontan eously never appears to be due to one specific factor, but experimenta l cancers have been shown to do so. In this light, recent advances in molecular biology have pointed out the relevance of the role of oncoge nes and tumor suppressor genes iii the pathogenesis of lung cancers. I t is the purpose of this paper to review these latest findings, especi ally from a genetic point of view.