International Journal of Molecular Sciences Review Genetic Markers in Lung Cancer Diagnosis: A Review Katarzyna Wadowska 1 , Iwona Bil-Lula 1 , Łukasz Trembecki 2,3 and Mariola Sliwi´ ´nska-Mosso´n 1,* 1 Department of Medical Laboratory Diagnostics, Division of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Haematology, Wroclaw Medical University, 50-556 Wroclaw, Poland;
[email protected] (K.W.);
[email protected] (I.B.-L.) 2 Department of Radiation Oncology, Lower Silesian Oncology Center, 53-413 Wroclaw, Poland;
[email protected] 3 Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Wroclaw Medical University, 53-413 Wroclaw, Poland * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +48-71-784-06-30 Received: 1 June 2020; Accepted: 25 June 2020; Published: 27 June 2020 Abstract: Lung cancer is the most often diagnosed cancer in the world and the most frequent cause of cancer death. The prognosis for lung cancer is relatively poor and 75% of patients are diagnosed at its advanced stage. The currently used diagnostic tools are not sensitive enough and do not enable diagnosis at the early stage of the disease. Therefore, searching for new methods of early and accurate diagnosis of lung cancer is crucial for its effective treatment. Lung cancer is the result of multistage carcinogenesis with gradually increasing genetic and epigenetic changes. Screening for the characteristic genetic markers could enable the diagnosis of lung cancer at its early stage. The aim of this review was the summarization of both the preclinical and clinical approaches in the genetic diagnostics of lung cancer. The advancement of molecular strategies and analytic platforms makes it possible to analyze the genome changes leading to cancer development—i.e., the potential biomarkers of lung cancer.