When lung cancer changes life, testing can change its care.
It helps doctors move from one-size-fits-all care to personalized treatment plans, like targeted therapy — a type of cancer treatment that targets the ways cancer cells grow, divide, and spread. Even if you get tested and don’t have any biomarkers, that’s ok. It’s still important for getting your care team more informed and can help them evaluate treatment options.
Did you know?
Your treatment plan can be based on your biomarkers.
You may recognize some of these biomarkers from your own chart. There are many biomarkers for lung cancer. Talk to your doctor about testing to see what they may mean.
About biomarker testing
What are lung cancer biomarkers?
Cancer biomarkers are small signals in tumor cells, like gene changes or certain levels of proteins, that can show how your cancer behaves and how it may change, grow, or respond to treatment. Even two people with the same type of lung cancer can have very different biomarkers.
By testing for them, your care team can create an individualized treatment plan — and adjust it if the disease changes over time. In lung cancer, a few common biomarkers include PD-L1, KRAS, EGFR, ALK, and BRAF.
Here’s how they’re tested.
Liquid Biopsies
As a first strategy, a liquid biopsy is used in 76.5% of all lung cancer cases. This analyzes bits of tumor material found in bodily fluids.
Liquid biopsies are usually done with a blood draw in a clinic or your doctor’s office, and are less invasive, faster to complete, and easier to repeat than tissue biopsies.
They can reveal some of the same information as tissue testing, but it has its limits — the results may not always match tissue biopsies and may miss some cancer changes.
Tissue Biopsies
Testing can also be done with a tissue biopsy, a procedure where a small piece of your lung cancer tumor is taken for closer examination.
While doctors can extract a lot of information from a liquid biopsy, a tissue analysis remains the gold standard. It measures how much your cancer has progressed, checks for mutations in a tumor’s genes and proteins, and can point to targeted therapies — or predict if immunotherapy may work for you.
However, it’s also more invasive. It may require an overnight stay at the hospital after a surgical procedure to collect a tissue sample.
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Talk to your doctor
Your tailored treatment plan really begins with a conversation.
When it comes to treating your lung cancer, asking about biomarker testing early can make a big impact on your care. Even if this process is unfamiliar, your doctor can help you understand your options and move forward with clarity.
Still have questions?
What biomarkers do doctors look for in lung cancer?
Some important lung cancer biomarkers are EGFR, KRAS, BRAF, ALK, and PD-L1. But there are several other biomarkers that your doctor may test for as well.
Where do I go to get tested?
Where you begin biomarker testing will depend on your need for a liquid biopsy or tissue biopsy.
In most lung cancer cases, initial testing begins with a liquid biopsy that can be done with a blood draw. Because blood draws are simpler procedures, they’re often completed in a doctor’s office or clinic.
If a more invasive tissue biopsy is required, you can expect small samples of your lung tumor to be surgically removed at a hospital, which may require an overnight stay.
What should I understand about my test results?
When you get your test results, your doctor will go over them with you to help you understand what they mean and how they can be used to determine your treatment options. You’ll most likely discuss:
- What biomarkers were found — or if no biomarkers showed up
- What treatment options match those specific biomarkers, and which ones may be available to you
- If there aren’t treatment matches — what potential clinical trials may be available for those biomarkers, or other treatment options
Will I need to get retested?
Depending on how well your current treatment is working, your doctor may want to have you retested for any changes to your disease and the biomarkers that may show up.
Since changes can occur over time, it can reveal the way your tumor is growing or changing, or if it’s developing a resistance to treatment.
New biomarkers can indicate alternative treatment options that may work more effectively.
Are there communities and advocacy groups I can join?
There are many patient advocacy and support groups in the lung cancer community. Here are a couple to get you started with connecting to other patients and caregivers, as well as resources to support you during your journey: