Dr. Lynch on Expanding Molecular Subsets in NSCLC

Thomas J. Lynch, MD, director, Yale Cancer Center, physician-in-chief, Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven, Giant of Lung Cancer Care, discusses expanding the number of molecular subsets in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Approximately 18% of patients with NSCLC have disease that is molecularly targetable with specific inhibitors. However, Lynch explains this does not mean the same population has disease that is solely driven by oncogene addiction, and that there are more subsets researchers hope to find.

The difficult part of this expansion process is knowing the subsets will not be found in large groups of patients, while BRAF and RAS mutations are often discovered in NSCLC cases. Lynch adds that treatments are not available to accurately target these other subsets, but a starting point is knowing they are oncogene-driven.