DESCRIPTION:

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death, yet current screening and treatment guidelines do not adequately address patients with early-onset disease or strong familial patterns, particularly among never-smokers, light or remote smokers, and individuals from diverse ancestral backgrounds. There is a significant unmet need for practical frameworks that help clinicians integrate germline and somatic information into risk assessment, diagnostic evaluation, and therapeutic decision-making—especially in a disease where prognosis and treatment response are strongly shaped by molecular profiles in addition to clinical stage.

This presentation will provide physicians with up-to-date evidence on hereditary and early-onset lung cancer, introduce clinically applicable genomic tools, and highlight strategies for incorporating genetic risk, ancestry, and tumor biology into patient care. Improved understanding of these principles will enhance early detection, refine therapeutic selection, and ultimately improve outcomes for high-risk patients who are currently underserved by existing guidelines.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Recognize key gaps in current lung cancer risk models, including the underappreciated roles of early-onset disease, family history, and ancestry.
• Explain how germline background and ancestry influence somatic evolution, tumor immune phenotypes, and response to targeted and immunotherapy.
• Evaluate the role of advanced genomic technologies—particularly long-read sequencing—in uncovering inherited susceptibility missed by standard testing.
• Identify opportunities to integrate family history, germline findings, ancestry, and tumor genomics into early detection and precision therapy strategies.