Why is biomarker testing important for lung cancer?
Why is biomarker testing important for lung cancer?
The great news is that incredible advances have been made in lung cancer care recently with the development of new and very effective treatments that allow doctors to tailor recommendations to your specific cancer type. However, before doctors can decide which medication would work best for your cancer, we need to know the gene abnormalities and proteins that your cancer expresses (also known as molecular profiling).
Biomarker testing is usually performed on a sample of your cancer obtained from a biopsy (for example a needle biopsy through the airways or directly into your chest) that you may already have as part of your cancer diagnosis. If so, the tissue (if there is enough of it) can be sent to specialized laboratories to obtain a full set of lung cancer biomarkers.
Recently, the genetic component of biomarker testing has been performed on a sample of blood (liquid biopsy). Liquid biopsies are very helpful when they successfully identify the genetic changes of your lung cancer, but in certain circumstances, the result is non-informative and, your doctor may ask for an additional tissue biopsy.
Currently, liquid biopsies do not provide information on the protein expression of your cancer (important to help with immunotherapy selection).
Once a full biomarker profile is obtained, your doctor (oncologist) will be armed with a full set of information to decide what treatment will suit you best. Targeted therapies have been developed to treat lung cancer with abnormalities in the following genes: EGFR, ALK, ROS1, KRAS, MET, RET, NTRK, BRAF, ERBB2 and the list continues to grow! Immunotherapy has also been developed which can be used alone or combined with chemotherapy depending on the amount of protein biomarker (PD-L1) expression of your cancer.
Even if you are receiving treatment for lung cancer, biomarker testing continues to be important as your cancer can change with time. Repeat biomarker testing can be especially important if your cancer stops responding to the targeted treatment you are receiving. That’s when your oncologist may request more tissue or liquid biopsies to determine the most appropriate treatments if your cancer changes its biomarker profile.
Additionally, knowledge of the biomarker profile can also help identify if there are any trials of new and developing treatments that may be offered to you.
If you do not know what your cancer biomarker profile is, ask your doctor (oncologist) for this critical information. You can also complete this information in the profile section of the app, and we will continue to keep you informed about the latest advances that are specific to your cancer biomarker profile.
September 2022
Dr Hazel O'Sullivan received travel expenses from Takeda and an Honoraria for Amgen.