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World J Clin Oncol. Aug 24, 2021; 12(8): 656-663
Published online Aug 24, 2021. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v12.i8.656
Current challenges in applying gene-driven therapies in clinical lung cancer practice
Jatta Saarenheimo, Heidi Andersen, Natalja Eigeliene, Antti P Jekunen
Jatta Saarenheimo, Department of Pathology, Vasa Central Hospital, Vaasa 65130, Finland
Heidi Andersen, Natalja Eigeliene, Antti P Jekunen, Department of Oncology, Vasa Central Hospital, Vasa 65130, Finland
Heidi Andersen, Tema Cancer, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm 17177, Sweden
Heidi Andersen, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, University of Tampere, Tampere 33100, Finland
Natalja Eigeliene, Antti P Jekunen, Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, University of Turku, Turku 20500, Finland
Author contributions: Jekunen A, Eigeliene N, Andersen H and Saarenheimo J wrote the paper; Saarenheimo J collected the data.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that there is no other conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jatta Saarenheimo, PhD, Research Scientist, Department of Pathology, Vasa Central Hospital, Hietalahdenkatu 2-4, Vaasa 65130, Finland. jatta.saarenheimo@vshp.fi
Received: February 25, 2021
Peer-review started: February 25, 2021
First decision: May 7, 2021
Revised: May 11, 2021
Accepted: August 6, 2021
Article in press: August 6, 2021
Published online: August 24, 2021
Processing time: 178 Days and 17.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Several gene-driven therapy drugs and molecular testing, together with immunohistochemistry, have evolved for lung cancer in recent years. Lung cancer is mutation dense and has more predictive genes that potentially influence treatment decisions than any other cancer type. In our case study, we ran into obstacles and delays in the diagnostic pathway both in tissue sampling and in gene testing. However, the major obstacle was the financial availability of new drugs. All elements need to be in place before a new drug can be given to patients, following the idea of the right drug at the right time.