Immunotherapy in Early Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Immune-checkpoint inhibitors are extensively used in cancer treatment and have transformed the therapeutic landscape by inducing durable responses. Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors targeting programmed death 1 (PD-1) receptor and programmed death ligand-1 (PDL-1) are used alone or with chemotherapy for treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). There is a great need for improving outcomes of patients with early stage NSCLC after surgical resection and with recent F. D. A. approval, immune checkpoint inhibitors are used as neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy to enable curative resection and prevent or delay disease progression. In this article, we review the clinical studies evaluating the role of adjuvant and neoadjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitors in NSCLC and discuss the role of immunotherapy with radiation therapy in locally advanced non-metastatic NSCLC.