Tumors, the oncologist: “Revolution targeted drugs for patients with lung cancer”

They represent 50 percent of lung cancers: they are non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC, non-small-cell lung cancer) against which Oncology today has an extra weapon, namely the identification of bimolecular alterations against cancer cells, a technique capable of influencing the evolution of the same disease because some of these alterations have become the target of targeted drugs, called target therapy. Chiara Bennati, doctor in charge of Oncology, hospitalization at the Santa Maria delle Croci hospital in Ravenna, in an interview published on the Aleati per la Salute website (www.alleatiperlasalute.it), the new portal dedicated to medical-scientific information created by Novartis , underlines the importance of target therapies which, unlike chemotherapy and immunotherapy, have a significantly better clinical risk / benefit profile than alternative treatments, as well as being, in most cases, oral drugs. “Patients with a tumor that presents a molecular alteration – explains Bennati – if they receive specific and personalized therapies, have a longer survival than those treated with traditional chemotherapy. In fact, life expectancy goes from 6-9 with chemotherapy to over 5 years with target therapy. The advantages of target therapy are then in terms of a better tolerability of the treatments, because the side effects are more manageable, but also in the administration. These treatments are in fact tablets to be taken by mouth, so the therapy can be done at home: there is no need to go to the hospital “. But it is of fundamental importance to subject patients to appropriate and efficient diagnostic tests that allow to correctly identify tumor alterations (the most frequent are EGFR, BRAF, HER2, MET, KRAS and ROS1, ALK, RET and NTRK gene fusions) that therefore allow the use of specific target therapies. The identification of mutations is a fundamental step in identifying the most appropriate and personalized anticancer treatment. The search for tumor mutations is essential not only in the diagnosis phase, but also when a relapse occurs. “When the patient stops responding to personalized treatment, it is essential to repeat the biopsy to re-characterize the therapy – concludes the oncologist – There are treatments that overcome tumor resistance when it progresses. There are known resistance mechanisms for which the search for mutations is important not only in the initial phase of diagnosis, but also in the course of a disease which, it must be remembered, has a dynamic trend. The characteristics of the tumor itself change over time and identifying the mutation makes a substantial difference for the patient in terms of quality and quantity of life ”. The full interview is on https://www.alleatiperlasalute.it/limurezza-dellindividuare-le-mutazioni-nel-tumore-al-polmone