Stamp out lung cancer

Ravi Salgia
DOI:10.4103/1477-3163.44016


Lung cancer remains the most common cancer-related cause of death among American men and women. More than one in four cases of all diagnosed cancers involves the lung. By the end of the year 2008, there will be over 215,000 new cases of lung cancer (for the year) and over 161,000 deaths from lung cancer.

Over the course of the past several decades, we have made only a few small strides in our fight against lung cancer, in spite of significant efforts put in by the medical research community. The overall five-year survival for lung cancer still remains lower than 20%. In the era of molecularly targeted therapies, new drugs, specifically the drugs that target the EGFR and the VEGF pathways, have been developed against lung cancer. Even with these novel therapies, the overall survival rate remains poor, especially in the case of metastatic lung cancer.

Lung cancer is a no longer a disease affecting smokers alone. About 15% of lung cancer patients around the world are non-smokers, and a significant portion of them are women. The incidence of lung cancer is on the rise among white women and African American men and women. These observations suggest the need to understand the processes and mechanisms of carcinogenesis for different population.

The “philosophy” of “personalized therapies” to treat cancers is gaining momentum with the success of targeted therapies and the trend is slowly catching-up for the treatment of lung cancer as well.

Most cancers, including lung cancer, are preventable. Awareness about cancer and cancer prevention are critical for reducing cancer related deaths in the world. The knowledge of genesis of the cancers can empower people to adapt lifestyles that reduce the risk for cancer incidence.

November is observed as ‘Lung Cancer Awareness’ month worldwide, providing an opportunity to the biomedical research community to focus on developing diagnostic, preventive and treatment strategies to combat lung cancers. It takes a “community” to achieve this goal and the Carcinogenesis Research Community should be in the forefront of such an effort.

In observance of ‘Lung Cancer Awareness’ month, the Journal of Carcinogenesis solicits original research and review articles that address lung carcinogenesis. The journal encourages authors to submit articles that are related to secondhand smoking and lung carcinogenesis, and lung carcinogenesis mechanisms among non-smokers, especially women.

The Journal of Carcinogenesis is committed to lead the Carcinogenesis Research Community in the efforts to ‘Stamp Out Lung Cancer’. Please publish your research in the journal and support the cause to eradicate lung cancer.