Neoadjuvant Camrelizumab for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Multicenter, Real-World Study (CTONG2004)

Camrelizumab has shown encouraging efficacy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), either as monotherapy or combined with chemotherapy. However, evidence of neoadjuvant camrelizumab for NSCLC remains lacking.

Patients with NSCLC treated with neoadjuvant camrelizumab-based therapy followed by surgery between December 2020 and September 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic and clinical data, details of neoadjuvant therapy and surgical information were retrieved.

In this multicenter retrospective real-world study, 96 patients were included. Ninety-five patients (99.0%) received neoadjuvant camrelizumab combined with platinum-based chemotherapy, with a median of 2 cycles (range 1-6). The median interval from the last dose to surgery was 33 days (range 13-102 days). Seventy patients (72.9%) underwent minimally invasive surgery. Lobectomy was the most frequent surgical procedure (94 [97.9%]). The median estimated intraoperative blood loss was 100 mL (range 5-1200 mL), and the median operative time was 3.0 h (range 1.5-6.5 h). The R0 resection rate was 93.8%. Twenty-one patients (21.9%) experienced postoperative complications, with the most common being cough and pain (both 6 [6.3%]). The overall response rate was 77.1% (95% CI 67.4-85.0%), and the disease control rate was 93.8% (95% CI 86.9-97.7%). Twenty-six patients (27.1%, 95% CI 18.5-37.1%) had pathological complete response. Neoadjuvant treatment-related adverse events of grade ≥ 3 were reported in seven patients (7.3%), with the most frequent being abnormal liver enzymes (two [2.1%]). No treatment-related deaths were reported.

The real-world data indicated that camrelizumab-based therapy had promising efficacy for NSCLC in the neoadjuvant setting, with manageable toxicities. Prospective studies investigating neoadjuvant camrelizumab are warranted.