Molecular origins of lung cancer: Prospects for personalized prevention and therapy

The first Meeting on "Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer - Prospects for Personalized Prevention and Therapy" was held from January 10 to 14, 2010 in San Diego, California. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss important basic, translational, and clinical work aimed at improving lung cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. Topics included drug design, target identification, early detection, cancer stem cells, microRNAs, genome wide approaches to determining risk and outcome, mouse models, and tumor microenvironment. The role of cancer advocates in supporting research was an important component of the meeting. Meeting presentations demonstrated that emerging technologies can molecularly dissect lung cancers that have important relevance for clinical utility. This includes molecular based strategies not only for treatment of established cancers but also individualized and molecularly-based strategies for cancer risk reduction and chemoprevention.