Molecular Pathology and Personalized Medicine: The Dawn of a New Era in Companion Diagnostics—Practical Considerations about Companion Diagnostics for Non-Small-Cell-Lung-Cancer

Abstract

Companion diagnostics (CDx) have become a major tool in molecular pathology and assist in therapy decisions in an increasing number of various cancers. Particularly, the developments in lung cancer have been most impressing in the last decade and consequently lung cancer mutation testing and molecular profiling has become a major business of diagnostic laboratories. However, it has become difficult to decide which biomarkers are currently relevant for therapy decisions, as many of the new biomarkers are not yet approved as therapy targets, remain in the status of clinical studies, or still have not left the experimental phase. The current review is focussed on those markers that do have current therapy implications, practical implications arising from the respective companion diagnostics, and thus is focused on daily practice.

Keywords

• companion diagnostics
• lung cancer
• ALK
• FISH
• EGFR
• KRAS