Lung cancers biomarkers

More than 1.8 million of new cases of lung cancer (LC) are registered each year worldwide. LC is the leading cause of cancer death in both developing and developed countries, and the 5 years survival rate is as low as 19 %. Many factors explain such unsatisfactory outcomes, including the LC diagnosis at an advanced stage, when the currently available treatments can rarely provide cure. Biomarkers are used to assess the development risks, screening, diagnosis, monitoring, and prognosis, and to personalize the LC treatment. Clinical use of biomarkers is essential for the identification of a high-risk group for screening for LC and differentiating early LC from benign pulmonary lesions. Current trends in the development of LC biomarkers involve the integration of molecular biomarkers with clinical and radiological characteristics using artificial intelligence for the development of imaging biomarkers, and using highly sensitive technologies such as next-generation sequencing for molecular research. LC biomarkers are now at all stages of development, from discovery to clinical trials requiring high-quality clinical validation. Reliable biomarkers are especially needed to differentiate malignant and benign lesions in the lung tissue and to identify those at greatest risk of developing lung cancer. Scientific advances in understanding LC have led to the development of biomarkers that demonstrate sufficient accuracy in clinical validation studies. Promising trends in the development of LC biomarkers include highly sensitive and increasingly accessible NGS and radiomics technologies, along with the use of easily collected biomaterials, which in combination with other tumor characteristics contribute to the development of biomarkers for assessing the LC development risks, diagnosis, monitoring, prognosis and personalized therapy. This review focuses on the development, current application, and future trends in the use of LC biomarkers.