A Bull's Eye for Targeted Lung Cancer Therapy

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib has had mixed results in the treatment of lung cancer. The reason is now revealed in two papers published here ( Paez et al.) and elsewhere, which receive in-depth discussion in a Perspective by Minna et al. The two new studies show that tumors from a subset of lung cancer patients with an efficacious response to gefitinib carry mutations in the kinase domain of the EGF receptor. The new findings should enable early selection of those lung cancer patients most likely to respond well to gefitinib.