REVIEW  XII PNEUMOLAB PROCEEDINGS Free access

Minerva Medica 2017 June;108(3 Suppl 1):6-12

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4806.17.05322-8

Copyright © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Exploring adjuvant epidermal growth factor receptor inhibition in non-small cell lung cancer

Giulia M. STELLA ¹ ✉, Davide PILONI ²

¹ Unit of Pulmonology, Fondazione IRCCS, Policlinico San Matteo di Pavia, Pavia, Italy; ² Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

Lung cancer is among the most important causes of death worldwide. Despite the relevant progresses in the personalized approach to lung cancer, patients’ survival is still poor. Only a minor fraction of patients can be addressed to surgery for radical tumor removal. Adjuvant chemotherapy is currently recommended for resected stages II and III patients although it is known that it can modestly contribute to survival prolongation. A better identification of molecular markers, predictive of adjuvant chemo response is now mandatory, in order to reduce useless toxicities and identify those patients who could really benefit. Here we present and analyze a recent paper by Huang et al. aimed at evaluating the prognostic role of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activation in adjuvant setting in order to determine whether the administration of EGFR tyrosine-kinase inhibitors could improve the outcomes of patients affected by NSCLC undergoing complete resection. Moreover we provide an exhaustive literature revision that could be helpful for a proper management of that small cohort of EGFR-mutated resected NSCLC.

KEY WORDS: Chemotherapy, adjuvant - Epidermal growth factor - Protein kinase inhibitors - Carcinoma, non-small-cell lung - Survival