Lung Adenocarcinoma Stage III clinical trials

Neoadjuvant Afatinib Therapy for Potentially Resectable Stage III EGFR Mutation-Positive Lung Adenocarcinoma

In general, for patients with stage I or II disease, surgery provides the best chance for cure.EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors(TKIs)are standard first-line treatment for EGFR-mutant advanced NSCLC.Afatinib was a 2nd-generation EGFR TKI that covalently bound and irreversibly blocked signaling through activated EGFR, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and ErbB4 receptors, and the FDA has approved afatinib for first-line treatment of patients with metastatic NSCLC who have sensitizing EGFR mutations.The treatment of stage III NSCLC remains a matter of debate. Current multimodality treatment options for stage III included definitive chemoradiation, surgery followed by adjuvant therapy,or neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgical resection.Previous studies have revealed that adjuvant EGFR-TKI could significantly prolong disease free surivival, and have less toxicity than adjuvant chemotherapy for early resectable EGFR mutation positive NSCLC patients.EMERGING-CTONG1103 regarding neoadjuvant erlotinib vs chemotherapy (Gemcitabine plus cisplatin) for stage III NSCLC reveal that erlotinib has improved ORR (54%), major pathological response, operation rate, R0 resection and lymph node downstaging, and progression-free survival (PFS).A phase II trial (ASCENT) of neoadjuvant afatinib for stage III EGFR-mutation NSCLC concludes that afatinib yields the highest ORR (75%) up to now and verifies the feasibility of neoadjuvant EGFR TKIs for stage III NSCLC. However, no more studies are available so far to confirm the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant afatinib in the treatment of resectable stage III EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC, and there is a lack of studies based on the Chinese population. Given that the neoadjuvant therapy has delayed the operation time and there is a potential risk of cancer progression, more data are needed to perform evaluation.