Radiotherapy plus lonidamine in non-small cell lung cancer

The current experience on combining lonidamine and radiation therapy in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer was reviewed by the author. Six studies have been published on this subject: four were randomized trials comparing lonidamine plus radiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone. Total number of cases reported in these studies and length of follow up are still insufficient to draw a conclusion. The available data demonstrate, however, a significant improvement of time to progression in the group receiving radiotherapy plus lonidamine compared to the group receiving radiotherapy alone. No clear effect was observed on overall survival, which was only marginally superior in the group treated with lonidamine. Further studies are needed to confirm these data and to define the optimum dose schedule.