Leading Medical Organizations Update Guideline for Molecular Testing and Targeted Therapies in Lung Cancer

DENVER, Jan. 23, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rapid advancements in the molecular diagnostic testing of lung cancer have led to new treatments and greater hope for patients battling lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer death worldwide.

To ensure that clinicians stay apace and provide optimal patient care, three leading medical societies-the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), and the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP)-have updated their 2013 evidence-based guideline.

Published today in early online release, the "Updated Molecular Testing Guideline for the Selection of Lung Cancer Patients for Treatment with Targeted Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors," continues to set standards for the molecular analysis of lung cancers for test results that effectively guide targeted therapy and treatment.

Targeted cancer therapies are drugs or other treatments that block the spread of cancer by interfering with specific molecules that spur that specific cancer's growth and progression. Patients whose tumors harbor certain, specific molecular alterations may be candidates for targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy, which may improve survival and quality of life.

"Several factors influenced this update, which builds on the guidance we set forth in 2013," said Neal Lindeman, MD, director of Molecular Diagnostics at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Associate Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, and AMP member. "Clinical practice guidelines must continually assess new evidence as it accumulates and consider new testing technologies as they emerge."

Dr. Lindeman led the international, multidisciplinary panel of expert authors appointed by each of the three organizations. The panel included pathologists, oncologists, pulmonologists, a methodologist, laboratory scientists, and patient representatives who collaborated to develop the guideline following the Institute of Medicine's evidence-based process.

The updated guideline strengthens or reaffirms the majority of the 2013 recommendations for patients with lung adenocarcinoma, and also recommends testing for some new genes. Most notably:

• Testing for ROS1 mutations is new and strongly recommended for all lung cancer patients regardless of clinical characteristics.
  
  
• Multiplexed genetic sequencing panels (e.g., NGS testing) are preferred over multiple single-gene tests to identify other treatment options beyond EGFR, ALK, and ROS1, however single gene assays are still acceptable.