Pre-invasive Disease of the Lung

Histologically distinct pre-invasive lesions have been identified as precursors, or putative precursors, of lung cancer; the extent to which pre-invasive disease precedes invasive disease is, however, still unknown. In the context of lung cancer screening, understanding the biology behind pre-invasive disease is potentially of importance as it may lead to the identification of specific and selective markers of pre-invasive lesions at high risk to develop into invasive lung cancer, useful for both the development of screening tools and also for the development of effective targeted strategies for chemoprevention and early treatment of such disease. In this chapter we focus on current knowledge and future directions of research on pulmonary pre-invasive lesions.