Asbestos-related lung cancers are rarely associated with ALK, ROS1 and RET rearrangements

Lung cancer remains the main cause of cancer death. In addition to smoking, exposure to occupational carcinogens constitutes a major risk for lung cancer. Among occupational cancers, asbestos-related ones are the most frequent, accounting for about 5–7% of lung cancers. A better understanding of the molecular pathways implicated in the progression of cancer has greatly improved the therapeutic management of patients with advanced lung cancers, especially nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) of the adenocarcinoma subtype. Indeed, several therapies targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)/ROS1 pathways are now approved to treat patients with advanced EGFR-mutated or ALK/ROS1-rearranged NSCLC, respectively. While EGFR and ALK alterations are mainly encountered in NSCLC of nonsmokers, other biomarkers are more frequent in smoking patients, such as KRAS mutations, and are of prognostic interest. Nevertheless, the frequencies of the different biomarkers analysed daily for the therapeutic management of patients with NSCLC are rarely reported in occupational lung cancers, including asbestos-related ones.

Source: European Respiratory Journal - March 8, 2018 Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Uguen, M., Dewitte, J.-D., Lodde, B., Marcorelles, P., Uguen, A. Tags: Original Articles: Correspondence Source Type: research