Defining the Lung Cancer Problem 1 Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the world. It kills almost as many Americans as cancers of the breast, prostate, colon, rectum, pancreas, and 2 kidney combined, and accounts for 28.6% of all US cancer deaths. With an increase in the 5-year relative survival rate from 13% to only 16% in the more than 2 30 years from 1974 to the present, it will take us another 840 years to eradicate lung cancer deaths if we do not improve the current rate of progress. As discussed in this text, lung cancer prevention has received substantial att- tion. The decrease in smoking in recent decades has helped, but smoking is not the only problem. Lung cancer in people who have never smoked is currently the 5th 3 leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Several factors contribute to the lethality of lung cancer, including the rapidity of tumor growth, advanced stage at diagnosis (due to nonspecificity of early sy- toms and the uncertain efficacy of screening), early development of metastases, and resistance to therapy. Several chapters in this book discuss new molecular targets that may be potentially exploitable in the future, as well as discussing our track record to date in exploiting them.

Molecular pathology of lung cancer: Alejandro Corvalan and Ignacio Wistuba
Tumor microenvironment: Tonya C. Walser, Jane Yanagawa, Edward Garon, Jay M. Lee, Steven Dubinett
Racial and ethnic diversity in lung cancer: Carol J. Etzel, Sumesh Kachroo
Pharmacogenetics of lung cancer: Xifeng Wu, Jian Gu
Lung cancer prevention Nir Peled, Robert L. Kieth, Fred Hirsch
Adjuvant and neoadjuvant therapy of non-small cell lung cancer: Katherine Pisters
Chemoradiotherapy for inoperable non-small cell lung cancer: James Cox and David J. Stewart
Management of advanced non-small cell lung cancer- front line treatment: William N. William Jr. and David J. Stewart
Chemotherapy in previously-treated patients with non-small cell lung cancer: Frank V. Fossella
Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer: Paul Wheatley-Price and Frances A, Shepherd
Angiogenesis inhibitors in lung cancer : Leora Horn and Alan Sandler
Other molecular targeted agents in non-small cell lung cancer: Benjamin Besse and Jean Charles Soria
Vaccine therapy for lung cancer: John Nemunaitis and Jack Roth
Gene-based therapies for lung cancer: John Nemunaitis and Jack Roth
Lung cancer resistance to chemotherapy: David J. Stewart
Small cell carcinoma: Emer Hanrahan and Bonnie Glisson
Mesothelioma: Mary Frances McAleer, Reza J. Mehran, and Anne Tsao
Advances in oncology clinical research statistical and study design methodologies: B. Nebiyou Bekele
Palliativecare for patients with lung cancer: David Hui and Eduardo Bruera
The future of lung cancer: Sophie Sun, Joan H. Schiller, Monica Spinola, John Minna