New Developments in Neoadjuvant Therapy for Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and worldwide. While most patients present with advanced metastatic disease for which a cure is elusive, increased use of spiral CT screening has led to identification of more early-stage patients who can be treated. At the same time, immunotherapy and new targeted therapies have improved survival in advanced disease. These new therapies are now being studied in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings to reduce systemic recurrences and improve cure rates. The results of early clinical trials of checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy alone and combined with chemotherapy, as well as those of neoadjuvant studies of molecular therapies, have been promising. Ongoing large neoadjuvant trials of immunotherapies and molecular therapies alone and in combination with chemotherapy are underway and eagerly awaited. In this article, we review these new developments in neoadjuvant therapy for lung cancer.