Targeted Therapy and Immunotherapy for Lung Cancer

Targeted therapy and immunotherapy have changed the treatment paradigm of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Distinct molecular subtypes of NSCLC have been described over the past 20 years, enabling the emergence of treatments specific to that subtype. Agents targeting the driver mutations in NSCLC have revolutionized the approach to patients with metastatic disease, because oncologists now select a treatment based on the profile of that particular tumor. More recently, an understanding of immune checkpoints has led to the development of checkpoint inhibitors that enable the host immune system to better recognize tumor cells as foreign and to destroy them.