A Career in Lung Cancer: Pushing Beyond Chemotherapy.

The landscape of treatments for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has evolved dramatically over the past 3 decades. A better understanding of the disease biology and identification of actionable genetic alterations heralded an era of targeted therapies that has led to unprecedented survival benefits in patients with oncogene-driven NSCLC. More recent breakthroughs in immunotherapy led to the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors that have changed the treatment paradigm for patients with advanced NSCLC because of their ability to produce durable responses, resulting in improved survival outcomes. Despite the unparalleled success of these agents, primary and acquired resistance to these therapies pose a formidable challenge. In this article, we provide an overview of the therapeutic advances in the treatment of NSCLC, mechanisms of resistance, and potential strategies to overcome resistance to targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors.

An Open-Label Phase II Trial of Bevacizumab plus Docetaxel and Gemcitabine in Advanced, Previously Untreated Nonsquamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

LESSONS LEARNED: The combination of bevacizumab with docetaxel-gemcitabine resulted in unacceptable toxicity, particularly a high rate of pulmonary toxicity (30%).Despite promising efficacy, excessive toxicity of this regimen does not support its use in patients with advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer. BACKGROUND: Prior to immunotherapy, standard treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was platinum doublet chemotherapy. In a previous phase II study, docetaxel-gemcitabine demonstrated comparable efficacy and tolerability to platinum doublets. In this phase II trial, we evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of adding bevacizumab to docetaxel- gemcitabine in patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC. METHODS: Patients with untreated advanced nonsquamous NSCLC were treated with up to six cycles of docetaxel-gemcitabine-bevacizumab, followed by bevacizumab until progression. The primary endpoint for this study was 1-year progression-free survival (PFS); secondary endpoints were safety, overall response rate (ORR) and overall survival (OS). The planned sample size was 46 patients. RESULTS: A total of 13 patients were enrolled and received a median of six cycles of chemotherapy and four cycles of bevacizumab. The treatment was poorly tolerated, with five patients requiring dose reduction and four discontinuing treatment for toxicity. Grade 3-5 nonhematologic toxicity was seen in 10 patients, and 4 (30%) were hospitalized with pulmonary toxicity possibly related to study drugs. At this point, enrollment was halted for safety concerns. The 12-month PFS was 8%. In 11 evaluable patients, ORR was 72%, median PFS 6 months, and median OS was 11 months. CONCLUSION: Docetaxel, gemcitabine, and bevacizumab at this dose and schedule resulted in excessive toxicity. Despite promising efficacy, in light of efficacious and safe alternative therapies, this regimen should not be used to treat advanced NSCLC.

Post-treatment changes in hematological parameters predict response to nivolumab monotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: The absolute neutrophil count (ANC), absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), absolute monocyte count (AMC) and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) are known markers of inflammation. We evaluated whether ANC, ALC, AMC and NLR, both before and after treatment with nivolumab, are indicative markers of overall survival (OS) and evaluated change in NLR as a predictive marker of response in non -small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with nivolumab. METHODS: A total of 109 patients with advanced NSCLC treated with nivolumab were included. ANC, ALC, AMC and NLR were examined at initiation of nivolumab therapy and after two cycles. The prognostic role of ANC, ALC, AMC and NLR with OS and changes in NLR ratio were examined with Kaplan-Meier curves and proportional hazard model. RESULT: Post-treatment NLR ≥5 after two cycles of nivolumab was associated with poor OS (median OS in NLR = <5 vs NLR = ≥5 was 29.1 (16.2-40.9) vs 24.2(16.1-36.2) months respectively, p<0.001). In addition NLR increased in non-responders after two cycles of nivolumab by 6.6±21.8 as compared to responders (p = 0.027). CONCLUSIONS: Post-treatment ANC, ALC and NLR are independent prognostic factors in NSCLC patients treated with nivolumab. Changes in NLR can be an early biomarker for response in NSCLC patients treated with nivolumab.