Gene Expression Levels in Predicting Treatment Response in Patients With Stage IV Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To describe the association between baseline gene expression levels at the protein and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) level and best treatment response after two cycles of single-agent or multi-agent chemotherapy SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To describe changes in protein and mRNA levels of ribonucleotide reductase M1 (RRM1), thymidylate synthetase (TS), and excision repair cross-complementing rodent repair deficiency, complementation group 1 (ERCC1) in serial biopsies obtained from patients being treated with gemcitabine (gemcitabine hydrochloride), pemetrexed (pemetrexed disodium), and platinum. II. To describe the association between changes in marker levels and changes in tumor diameters. TERTIARY OBJECTIVES: I. To explore the relationship between marker levels in circulating tumor cells and solid tumor specimens. II. To explore the relationship between marker levels in viable peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), circulating tumor cells, and tumor specimens. III. Should sufficient amounts and numbers of tumor specimens remain after these analyses, they will be used to assess if other genes implicated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) outcome and response to treatment might be useful as prognostic or predictive markers for patient outcome. OUTLINE: Patients receive 1 of 3 chemotherapy regimens at the discretion of the primary oncologist, including docetaxel intravenously (IV) on day 1, pemetrexed disodium IV on day 1, or gemcitabine hydrochloride IV on days 1 and 8. Treatment repeats every 3 weeks for 2 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After course 2, patients may continue treatment off-study at the discretion of the treating physician. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up for 12 months.