Neuroendocrine tumors of the lung

Abstract

Lung NETs are known to arise from bronchial Kulchitsky cells, but differ in terms of histopathology. In this chapter, we discuss the pathogenesis of lung neuroendocrine tumors describing the progression from precursor lesions and the histopathologic features of these tumors. The histopathologic features of the different grades of pulmonary NETs are described and correlated with the clinical behavior. The second part of the chapter deals with the molecular mechanisms of pulmonary NETs. The chromosomal alterations of lung tumors, including multiple nonrandom breaks of chromosomes 1, 3, 7, 15, and 17, and the stepwise loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of chromosome homing tumor suppressor genes are described in detail.