Lung Cancer

The aim of this book is to provide an exciting read on strategies in the diagnosis and therapy of lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the second most diagnosed cancer and remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. The high mortality is largely the consequence of late diagnosis; lung cancer is typically asymptomatic in early stages when a surgical cure is most likely. As a result, there has been great interest in and research on early detection of lung cancer through screening.

This is the third, completely updated edition of a comprehensive book in which many of the world’s leading lung cancer specialists discuss the recent advances in the radiation oncology of lung cancer and reflect on the latest research findings in lung cancer and other intrathoracic malignancies. Lung cancer remains the major cancer killer in both sexes worldwide. It is so despite significant progress in recent decades in both diagnostic and treatment approaches. New biological and technological advances in this field are now faster incorporated in the overall decision-making process and are bringing fast and substantial improvements in both survivals and quality of life of lung cancer patients. Optimized patient-oriented approaches are reality of the third decade of this millennium and thoracic oncologists strive towards nothing but seamlessly delivering it in a continuous battle with lung cancer.

This book provides insight into the various immunotherapeutic approaches for the treatment of lung cancers. The chapters of the book discuss the detailed mechanisms of checkpoint inhibitors, co-stimulatory molecules, drugs working in the immunosuppressive environment, and various vaccines for lung cancer. A chapter of the book explores the recent applications of the oncolytic virus in lung cancer treatment and discusses the potential and direction of oncolytic virus-based therapeutic vaccines. The chapter also elucidates the current understanding of the role of Toll-Like Receptors (TLRs) in tumor progression, and the recent progress in utilizing TLR agonists as potential therapeutic agents in lung cancer treatment. Towards the end, the book reviews the applications of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and immunotherapy for the treatment of lung cancer. This book provides useful information to a range of audiences including clinical researchers working in the field of lung cancer, and undergraduate and postgraduate students from various disciplines such as pharmacy, microbiology, immunology, pharmacology, biotechnology, and health sciences.

Lung cancer has seen a paradigm shift in disease treatment over the past few years, with major changes in the therapeutic drugs now available as well as in the overall management approach. For targeted and immunotherapeutic approaches, understanding the biology of acquired resistance is a key strategy that has yielded productive advances in the subsequent treatment. Future advances also include incorporating biomarker data obtained from solid and liquid biopsies, as well as combination of immunotherapy with radiotherapy and in special populations such patients with CNS involvement.

This book comprehensively reviews the evidence that has driven personalized medicine, based on a variety of multidisciplinary perspectives by international lung cancer experts.