Adjuvant therapy for nonsmall cell lung cancer: recent advances and future perspectives

In this article, we discuss the emergence of adjuvant chemotherapy as the standard of care, the potential role of targeted and immune therapy in resected nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, and the importance of ongoing clinical trials to further define the use of these agents as adjuvant therapy.

Adjuvant chemotherapy after surgical resection provides modest improvements in cure rate, though recurrence of disease still occurs in a substantial proportion of patients. The advent of targeted and immune therapies has improved outcomes for patients with advanced stage NSCLC. Recent studies have explored the role of vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors, epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors, vaccine therapy, and predictive biomarkers in the adjuvant setting.

Platinum doublet chemotherapy remains the standard adjuvant therapy for resected stage II, IIIA, and high-risk stage IB NSCLC. Ongoing clinical trials are evaluating emerging therapies to improve efficacy and reduce toxicity while aiming to improve patient selection for such therapies.