Lung cancer: multidisciplinary approach for management: cell and molecular biology assembly contribution to the celebration of 20 years of the ERS.

T he Cell and Molecular Biology Assembly, in association with the Thoracic Oncology Assembly, has been leading a Task Force on an adenocarcinoma multidisciplinary classification, which includes histomolecular and radiological correlation as well as oncology and surgical management. With .1.3 million deaths annually [1, 2], lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide [3, 4]. The dismal prognosis of lung cancer is due to lack of early diagnostic tools, presentation at a late stage and an at best modest effect of chemotherapy. The major cause of lung cancer is tobacco smoking (85% of lung cancer). Major requirements in the fight against lung cancer can be met by tobacco smoking cessation, and by understanding the genetic and epigenetic origins of progression of the disease, since smokers remain at risk 15 yrs after cessation. In addition, recent epidemiological data point to a preoccupying increase in incidence of lung adenocarcinoma in never-smokers, particularly in females. Adenocarcinoma is the most common histological subtype of lung cancer in most countries, accounting for almost half of all lung cancer. Within lung adenocarcinoma, a widely divergent clinical, radiological, molecular and pathologic spectrum exists. In the past decade and despite spectacular advances in understanding of the molecular origins of lung cancer, there has remained a need for universally accepted criteria for adenocarcinoma histological subtypes and their histomolecular correlations.