Abstract: Lung cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers and is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The World Health Organization, on 9th December 2020, revealed lung cancer as one of the leading causes of death and disability between the years 2000 and 2019 all over the world. Among all the lung cancers, non-small cell lung cancer contributes for about 85% approximately. Only 15% of the lung cancer patients have the possibility of survival for about five years of maximum, after getting diagnosed. Initial diagnosis involves biopsy inspection followed by staging using computed tomography and positron emission tomography to detect the accurate therapy to be applied. Smoking has been proven to be the major cause for this disease however, non-smokers are also increasingly getting diagnosed in the recent years. Some common symptoms include cough, chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, weight loss, coughing up blood or mucous and loss of appetite. Surgical resection remains the most preferred option with comparatively high success rates. However, combination of therapies such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy etcetera could give good results. Identification of potential biomarkers could lead to an advantageous targeted therapy. This review discusses on the types, causes, risk factors, biomarkers, treatment methods and drug targets that have been reported earlier.

Keywords: Non-small cell lung cancer, adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, biomarkers, targeted therapy.

| DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2021.8581