An open, observational, three-arm clinical study of 2-3 cycles of treatment as neoadjuvant therapy in operable locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer: An interim analysis.

Background: An open, observational, three-arm clinical study aimed at investigating the efficacy of different neoadjuvant therapies (neoadjuvant immunotherapy with(out) chemotherapy, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and neoadjuvant targeted therapy) in operable locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was conducted (NCT04197076). We report an interim analysis of 49 of 53 evaluable patients.

Methods: This study was conducted at Shanghai Chest Hospital and included eligible NSCLC patients who were 18 years old and had clinical stage IIB-IIIB disease. All 49 patients had surgical resection within 4-6 weeks after 2-3 cycles of neoadjuvant treatment consisting of immunotherapy (24 patients), chemotherapy (16 patients), and a targeted therapy (9 patients) regimen starting on the first day of each 21-day cycle. Pathologic complete response (pCR) was evaluated as the primary endpoint. Major pathological response (MPR) and tumor regression rate (TRR) were also evaluated.

Results: An improved pathologic complete response was achieved in the neoadjuvant immunotherapy arm compared with the neoadjuvant chemotherapy arm and neoadjuvant targeted therapy arm [20.8% (5/24) vs. 6.3% (1/16) vs. 0.0% (0/9); P = 0.089, 95% CI 0.138-0.151]. More importantly, we found that the curative effect of the neoadjuvant immunotherapy arm in pCR+MPR was better than that of the neoadjuvant chemotherapy arm and neoadjuvant targeted therapy arm [45.8% (11/24) vs. 18.8% (3/16) vs. 0.0% (0/9); P = 0.006, 95% confidence interval, 0.008-0.012]. Different neoadjuvant therapies had a statistically significant effect on postoperative pathological tumor downstaging ( = 0.017).

Conclusions: Neoadjuvant immunotherapy was associated with a trend toward better pCR than the neoadjuvant chemotherapy arm and neoadjuvant targeted therapy. Curative effect (pCR + MPR) was significantly better with neoadjuvant immunotherapy (P = 0.006, 95% confidence interval, 0.008-0.012).

Clinical Trial Registration: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04197076?recrs=a&cond=NCT04197076&draw=2&rank=1.