Targeted Therapies for Lung Cancer

This book contextualizes translational research and provides an up to date progress report on therapies that are currently being targeted in lung cancer. It is now well established that there is tremendous heterogeneity among cancer cells both at the inter- and intra-tumoral level. Further, a growing body of work highlights the importance of targeted therapies and personalized medicine in treating cancer patients. In contrast to conventional therapies that are typically administered to the average patient regardless of the patient’s genotype, targeted therapies are tailored to patients with specific traits. Nonetheless, such genetic changes can be disease-specific and/or target specific; thus, the book addresses these issues manifested in the somatically acquired genetic changes of the targeted gene. Each chapter is written by a leading medical oncologist who specializes in thoracic oncology and is devoted to a particular target in a specific indication. Contributors provide an in-depth review of the literature covering the mechanisms underlying signaling, potential cross talk between the target and downstream signaling, and potential emergence of drug resistance.

Dr. Ravi Salgia, MD, PhD, a renowned clinician-scientist, is Chair and Tenured Professor of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research at City of Hope National Medical Center, in Duarte, California. Dr. Salgia also holds the Arthur and Rosalie Kaplan Chair in Medical Oncology and is the Associate Director for Clinical Sciences Research in the City of Hope’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. Previously, Dr. Salgia was Tenured Professor of Medicine, Pathology and Dermatology, and the Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program, and Aerodigestive Tract Program Translational Research at the University of Chicago. His research interests focus on novel therapeutics against lung cancer. Dr. Salgia has been honored with numerous awards, including being named one of the Top Doctors in America. He is a member of the editorial board for several top Journals and has authored or coauthored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, reviews, and book chapters. Prior to his tenure at University of Chicago School of Medicine, Dr. Salgia was faculty at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School for a decade. Dr. Salgia earned his undergraduate summa cum laude in mathematics, biology, and chemistry, and then his MD and PhD degrees from Loyola University in Chicago, IL, where he also completed fellowships in neurochemistry and physiology. He continued his postgraduate training with an internship and residency in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, during which time he also served as a clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School in Boston.