Molecular Pathology of Lung Cancer

Abstract

The identification of targetable genomic alterations in lung cancer is required as standard of care to guide optimal therapy selection. With a constantly evolving landscape of ancillary molecular and biomarker testing in lung cancer, pathologists need to be aware of what specimens to test, how the testing should be performed, and which targets to test for to provide the clinically relevant genomic information necessary to treat these patients. Several guideline statements on the topic are currently available to help pathologists and laboratory personnel best use the small specimens obtained from patients with lung cancer for ancillary molecular testing.

Keywords: Adenocarcinoma; Biomarkers; Lung cancer; Molecular testing; Next-generation sequencing; Non–small-cell lung cancer.