Non-small cell lung cancer-pathology and biology

BackgroundNon-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for ca.75% of malignant epithelial neoplasms of the lungs. In recent years profound insight has been gained regarding the molecular mechanisms of lung carcinogenesis and subsequently new targeted therapies as well as immunotherapies have been developed. These advances have had asignificant impact on routine diagnostics in pathology.ObjectiveThe article aims to give an overview of the most common histological subtypes of NSCLC as well as the morphological, immunohistochemical and molecular characteristics.Material and methodsSelective search of the PubMed database.Results and discussionAdenocarcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas and large cell carcinomas are the most common histological subtypes. With the ancillary methods available in routine pathology even poorly differentiated tumors can be assigned to these entities. The NSCLC show numerous genetic changes of which alterations of EGFR, MET, ALK1 and ROS1 are target structures for personalized therapy.