Comparative Multiplex PCR and Allele-Specific Expression Analysis in Human Lung Cancer: Tools to Facilitate Target Identification

When lung cancer is detected, in the majority of cases it cannot be effectively treated and the patient will die of the disease. At presentation, most thoracic tumors are currently staged as nonresectable (1 ). This factor, coupled with the relative resistance of the disease to chemotherapeutic agents, leads to the high mortality rate. There are therefore two clear ways in which this situation might be improved: first, enhanced diagnostic strategies might allow detection of the disease at a stage when conventional treatment is more effective, and second, improved therapeutic agents would result directly in higher cure rates.