Lung cancer : journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer
-
Immune checkpoint inhibitors are considered standard second-line treatment in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients. This strategy has also become standard in first-line setting for a subgroup of patients with strongly positive PD-L1 tumors; therefore, PD-L1 status might be considered a new biomarker that deserves upfront testing. ⋯ However, some questions remain unanswered such as the best treatment strategy or the real upfront efficacy of these therapeutic strategies in the whole lung cancer population. In this review we summarize the main results in the first-line setting of recent phase III trials with immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients.
-
Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in men and women and treatment outcome continues to lag behind other common cancer types. A subset of lung adenocarcinoma patients exhibit a somatic mutation in EGFR or an ALK rearrangement. In these patients, targeted TKI therapy results in higher response rates, improved PFS and reduced side effects compared with platinum-based chemotherapy. ⋯ Radical local treatment to all oligoprogressive lesions is thought to eradicate the de-differentiated clones and restore overall sensitivity of the metastatic disease. Retrospective studies suggest that aggressive local treatment using stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), surgery or others can be used to eradicate TKI-resistant subpopulations enabling prolonged TKI treatment "beyond progression", which may lead to increased PFS and overall survival. This review focuses on the biological background of resistance development, systemic and local treatment options with a focus on SBRT, as well as challenges in defining the state of OPD and current clinical studies in oligoprogressive oncogene addicted NSCLC.
-
Thoracic radiotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of limited disease SCLC. Best results are obtained with twice daily (BID) radiotherapy, starting early and given concurrently with chemotherapy. ⋯ There was no statistically significant difference in survival between the two arms. Although the publication of the study is still awaited, this editorial puts the available data in perspective and draws some important conclusions.
-
We evaluated glucose transporter type 1 (GLUT1) and carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) expression, together with volume-based18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) parameters, in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, and examined the prognostic significance of those parameters according to its histologic subtype. ⋯ MTV and TLG values, and GLUT1 expression, significantly differed between patients with squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. High GLUT1 expression levels were significantly associated with MTV and TLG values and adverse clinical outcomes in patients with adenocarcinoma.
-
Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway-targeted immunotherapy has become the standard option of care in the management of lung cancer. The expression of the PD-L1 protein in lung cancer is expected to be a prognostic factor or to predict the response to PD-1-blocking antibodies. However, the association between PD-L1 positivity and the clinicopathological features and patient outcomes in lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) remains unclear because the definitive cut-off value for the expression of PD-L1 protein remains to be established. ⋯ The expression of PD-L1 protein was associated with a poor prognosis in lung SCC patients. The 1% cut-off value for PD-L1 might become a better predictive marker than the other cut-off values.