Adjuvant atezolizumab after adjuvant chemotherapy in resected stage IB-IIIA non-small-cell lung cancer (IMpower010): a randomised, multicentre, open-label, phase 3 trial.

Early and locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: an update of the ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines focusing on diagnosis, staging, systemic and local therapy.

PURPOSE Neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus nivolumab has been shown to be effective in resectable non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the NADIM trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03081689 ). The 3-year overall survival (OS) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis have not been reported. METHODS This was an open-label, multicenter, single-arm, phase II trial in which patients with stage IIIA NSCLC, who were deemed to be surgically resectable, were treated with neoadjuvant paclitaxel (200 mg/m 2 once a day) and carboplatin (area under curve 6) plus nivolumab (360 mg) once on day 1 of each 21-day cycle, for three cycles, followed by adjuvant nivolumab monotherapy for 1 year (240 mg once every 2 weeks for 4 months, followed by 480 mg once every 4 weeks for 8 months). The 3-year OS and ctDNA analysis were secondary objectives of the trial. RESULTS OS at 36 months was 81.9% (95% CI, 66.8 to 90.6) in the intention-to-treat population, rising to 91.0% (95% CI, 74.2 to 97.0) in the per-protocol population. Neither tumor mutation burden nor programmed cell death ligand-1 staining was predictive of survival. Conversely, low pretreatment levels of ctDNA were significantly associated with improved progression-free survival and OS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.20; 95% CI, 0.06 to 0.63, and HR, 0.07; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.39, respectively). Clinical responses according to RECIST v1.1 criteria did not predict survival outcomes. However, undetectable ctDNA levels after neoadjuvant treatment were significantly associated with progression-free survival and OS (HR, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.07 to 0.93, and HR, 0.04; 95% CI, 0.00 to 0.55, respectively). The C-index to predict OS for ctDNA levels after neoadjuvant treatment (0.82) was superior to that of RECIST criteria (0.72). CONCLUSION The efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus nivolumab in resectable NSCLC is supported by 3-year OS. ctDNA levels were significantly associated with OS and outperformed radiologic assessments in the prediction of survival. 

Overall Survival and Biomarker Analysis of Neoadjuvant Nivolumab Plus Chemotherapy in Operable Stage IIIA Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NADIM phase II trial)

Cisplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy remains the standard of care for patients with resected stage II or III non–small-cell lung cancer. However, biomarker-informed clinical trials are starting to push the management of early-stage lung cancer beyond cytotoxic chemotherapy. This review explores recent and ongoing studies focused on improving cytotoxic chemotherapy and incorporating targeted and immunotherapies in the management of early-stage, resectable lung cancer. Adjuvant osimertinib for patients with EGFR-mutant tumors, preoperative chemoimmunotherapy, and adjuvant immunotherapy could improve outcomes for selected patients with resectable lung cancer, and ongoing or planned studies leveraging biomarkers, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy may further improve survival. We also discuss the unique barriers associated with clinical trials of early-stage lung cancer and the need for innovative trial designs to overcome these challenges. 

Preoperative and Postoperative Systemic Therapy for Operable Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Multimodality treatment provides modest survival benefits for patients with locally advanced (stage III) non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Nevertheless, preoperative immunotherapy has continuously been shown to be promising in treating resectable NSCLC.This phase 2 trial enrolled patients with AJCC-defined stage IIIA or T3-4N2 IIIB NSCLC deemed surgically resectable. Patients received three cycles of neoadjuvant treatment with intravenous PD-1 inhibitor toripalimab (240 mg), carboplatin (area under the curve 5), and pemetrexed (500 mg/m2 for adenocarcinoma) or nab-paclitaxel (260 mg/m2 for other subtypes) on day 1 of each 21-day cycle. Surgical resection was performed 4–5 weeks afterward. The primary endpoint was major pathological response (MPR), defined as less than 10% residual tumor remaining at the time of surgery.Thirty-three patients were enrolled, of whom 13 (39.4%) had T3-4N2 stage IIIB disease. Thirty (90.9%) patients underwent resection and all except one (96.7%) achieved R0 resection. Twenty patients (60.6%) in the intention-to-treat population achieved an MPR, including 15 patients (45.5%) who achieved a pathological complete response (pCR). The MPR and pCR rates in the per-protocol population were 66.7% and 50.0%, respectively. The surgical complications included three cases of arrhythmias, one case of a prolonged air leak, and one case of chylothorax. The most common grade 3 treatment-related adverse event (TRAE) was anemia (2, [6.1%]). Severe TRAEs included one (3.0%) case of grade 3 peripheral neuropathy that resulted in surgical cancellation.Toripalimab plus platinum-based doublet chemotherapy yields a high MPR rate, manageable toxicity, and feasible resection in stage III NSCLC.Trial ClinicalTrials.gov ({"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT04304248","term_id":"NCT04304248"}}NCT04304248)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/2162402X.2021.1996000

Phase 2 trial of neoadjuvant toripalimab with chemotherapy for resectable stage III non-small-cell lung cancer.

8503Background: CheckMate 816 (NCT02998528) is a randomized phase 3 study of neoadjuvant NIVO + chemo vs chemo in resectable NSCLC. The study met its first primary endpoint, demonstrating significa...

Surgical outcomes from the phase 3 CheckMate 816 trial: Nivolumab (NIVO) + platinum-doublet chemotherapy (chemo) vs chemo alone as neoadjuvant treatment for patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Background In patients (pts) with non-metastatic NSCLC, surgery has curative potential but 30-80% who undergo resection experience recurrence. Neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemo is recommended for pts with high recurrence risk; however, benefits are modest and pathological complete response (pCR) with neoadjuvant chemo is low. Although immunotherapy targeting the PD-1 pathway has shown survival benefits in metastatic NSCLC, phase 3 trial results in resectable disease are yet to be reported. Recently, neoadjuvant NIVO, alone or in combination with chemo, has shown encouraging pCR rates in single-arm phase 2 studies. Here, we report the final analysis of one of the primary endpoints, pCR, of CheckMate 816 (NCT02998528)-a randomized, phase 3, open-label study evaluating NIVO + chemo vs chemo as neoadjuvant tx for resectable NSCLC. Methods Adults with clinical stage IB (≥ 4 cm)-IIIA (per AJCC 7th ed), resectable NSCLC, ECOG PS 0-1, and no known EGFR/ALK alterations were randomized to either NIVO 360 mg + platinum-doublet chemo Q3W or chemo Q3W for 3 cycles, followed by surgery. Stratification was by disease stage (IB/II vs IIIA), PD-L1 (≥ 1% or Results Baseline characteristics were balanced between arms (n = 179 each). Neoadjuvant NIVO + chemo significantly increased pCR rates vs chemo in the intent-to-treat population (ITT) (24.0% vs 2.2%; odds ratio 13.94 [99% CI 3.49-55.75]; P Conclusions CheckMate 816 met its first primary endpoint with a statistically significant improvement in pCR with neoadjuvant NIVO + chemo vs chemo alone per independent review. The safety profile of NIVO + chemo was consistent with the known profile of this combination regimen, and the addition of NIVO did not decrease the ability to perform surgery. CheckMate 816 is the first positive phase 3 trial demonstrating a significant improvement in pathologic response with neoadjuvant immunotherapy plus chemo in resectable NSCLC. Citation Format: Patrick M. Forde, Jonathan Spicer, Shun Lu, Mariano Provencio, Tetsuya Mitsudomi, Mark M. Awad, Enriqueta Felip, Stephen Broderick, Julie Brahmer, Scott J. Swanson, Keith Kerr, Changli Wang, Gene B. Saylors, Fumihiro Tanaka, Hiroyuki Ito, Ke-Neng Chen, Cecile Dorange, Junliang Cai, Joseph Fiore, Nicholas Girard. Nivolumab (NIVO) + platinum-doublet chemotherapy (chemo) vs chemo as neoadjuvant treatment (tx) for resectable (IB-IIIA) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the phase 3 CheckMate 816 trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr CT003.

Abstract CT003: Nivolumab (NIVO) + platinum-doublet chemotherapy (chemo) vs chemo as neoadjuvant treatment (tx) for resectable (IB-IIIA) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the phase 3 CheckMate 816 trial

Junliang Cai

Papers

Surgical outcomes from the phase 3 CheckMate 816 trial: Nivolumab (NIVO) + platinum-doublet chemotherapy (chemo) vs chemo alone as neoadjuvant treatment for patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Abstract CT003: Nivolumab (NIVO) + platinum-doublet chemotherapy (chemo) vs chemo as neoadjuvant treatment (tx) for resectable (IB-IIIA) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the phase 3 CheckMate 816 trial