Targeting Angiogenesis in Lung Cancer

The prognosis for the majority of patients with lung cancer remains poor, and treatment strategies including newer generation chemotherapeutics have not improved survival. New approaches are required to further improve patient outcome and survival. Recently, key molecules involved in signal transduction pathways that contribute to tumor growth have been identified as therapeutic targets, particularly molecules involved in cellular proliferation and angiogenesis. Novel therapeutics that specifically target angiogenesis have shown promise as single agents and in combination with standard chemotherapy. The results of recent studies validate the use of this class of targeted therapeutics as an important new treatment modality in cancer therapy. This review will focus on a discussion of antiangiogenic therapeutic monoclonal antibodies in development for the treatment of non–small cell lung cancer.