Neoadjuvant Erlotinib for Operable Stage II or IIIA NSCLC With EGFR Mutations

Lung cancer remains the most common cause of cancer-related death in the world. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type, and it accounts for 85% of cases. Unfortunately, the majority of patients with NSCLC have metastatic disease at diagnosis. However, even patients with resectable disease have poor survival. The need to improve survival rates in these patients prompted research exploring the role of systemic therapy in operable NSCLC. In the 1990s, several clinical trials of preoperative chemotherapy (also known as induction chemotherapy) followed by surgery or radiation in patients with locally advanced NSCLC showed improvements in survival. Erlotinib is an orally administered tyrosine kinase inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). The presence of somatic mutations in the kinase domain of EGFR strongly correlates with increased responsiveness to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Recently three randomized phase III trials showed that first-line use of EGFR-TKIs in patients with EGFR mutant NSCLC significantly improved response rate and progression-free survival (PFS) compared to platinum-based chemotherapy. These findings prompted this phase II trial of preoperative Erlotinib in patients with operable stage II and IIIA NSCLC harboring EGFR mutations.