MDT-BRIDGE: Neoadjuvant Durvalumab Plus Chemotherapy Followed by Either Surgery and Adjuvant Durvalumab or Chemoradiotherapy and Consolidation Durvalumab in Resectable or Borderline-resectable Stage IIB-IIIB NSCLC.

INTRODUCTION: In the AEGEAN trial, neoadjuvant durvalumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy (D+CT) followed by adjuvant durvalumab, versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone, significantly improved pathological complete response (pCR) rate and event-free survival (EFS) in patients with resectable NSCLC. In the PACIFIC trial, consolidation durvalumab significantly improved progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC after chemoradiotherapy. Strong pathological and clinical outcomes with chemoimmunotherapy have generated interest in its use to enable patients with borderline-resectable NSCLC to undergo surgery. Additionally, for patients initially deemed resectable but who later become unresectable/inoperable during neoadjuvant treatment, consolidation immunotherapy after chemoradiotherapy should be explored. PATIENTS AND METHODS: MDT-BRIDGE (NCT05925530) is a multicenter, phase II, non-randomized study in ∼140 patients with EGFR/ALK wild-type, stage IIB-IIIB (N2) NSCLC. Following baseline multidisciplinary team (MDT) assessment to determine resectable/borderline-resectable status, all patients receive 2 cycles of neoadjuvant D+CT every 3 weeks, followed by MDT reassessment of resectability. Patients deemed resectable receive 1-2 additional cycles of D+CT followed by surgery (Cohort 1). Patients deemed unresectable receive standard-of-care chemoradiotherapy (Cohort 2). Cohort 1 patients who become ineligible for surgery can enter Cohort 2. Following surgery or chemoradiotherapy, patients receive adjuvant or consolidation durvalumab for 1 year. The primary endpoint is resection rate in all patients. Additional endpoints include resection rates by baseline resectable/borderline-resectable status, resection outcomes, EFS/PFS, OS, pCR rate, circulating tumor DNA dynamics pre- and post-surgery (including correlation with clinical outcomes), and safety. CONCLUSION: Enrollment began in February 2024; primary completion is anticipated in April 2026.

Implementing circulating tumor DNA as a prognostic biomarker in resectable non-small cell lung cancer.

Systemic treatment of resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is evolving with emerging neoadjuvant, perioperative, and adjuvant immunotherapy approaches. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) detection at clinical diagnosis, during neoadjuvant therapy, or after resection may discern high-risk patients who might benefit from therapy escalation or switch. This Review summarizes translational implications of data supporting ctDNA-based risk determination in NSCLC and outstanding questions regarding ctDNA validity/utility as a prognostic biomarker. We discuss emerging ctDNA capabilities to refine clinical tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging in lung adenocarcinoma, ctDNA dynamics during neoadjuvant therapy for identifying patients deriving suboptimal benefit, and postoperative molecular residual disease (MRD) detection to escalate systemic therapy. Considering differential relapse characteristics in landmark MRD-negative/MRD-positive patients, we propose how ctDNA might integrate with pathological response data for optimal postoperative risk stratification.