Histology of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Two main categories of lung cancer are non-small-cell lung cancer, including adenocarcinoma, squamous-cell carcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma, and small-cell carcinoma. The main changes and improvements regarding the histology and molecular pathology of lung cancer are focused on adenocarcinoma. Lung cancer is a complex disease that is not only classified by cell type but also can be further divided by mutation – the changes to the cell that allowed the cancer to grow. Each type of lung cancer may or may not have one of the mutations. So far, researchers have identified a number of different mutations, called driver mutations. To date, there has been the most progress in understanding adenocarcinoma driver mutations, but scientists are also learning about squamous-cell and small-cell driver mutations.