Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Sep 24, 2022; 13(9): 758-761
Published online Sep 24, 2022. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v13.i9.758
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer: Times are changing—and fast
Carlos Aguado, Unai Jiménez Maestre, Xabier Mielgo-Rubio
Carlos Aguado, Department of Medical Oncology, Hospital Universitario Clínico San Carlos, Madrid 28040, Spain
Unai Jiménez Maestre, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Hospital Universitario Cruces, Barakaldo 48903, Bizkaia, Spain
Xabier Mielgo-Rubio, Department of Medical Oncology, Hospital Universitario Fundación Alcorcón, Alcorcón 28922, Madrid, Spain
Author contributions: Aguado C, Maestre UJ, and Mielgo-Rubio X wrote and revised the letter.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interests related to this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Carlos Aguado, MD, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Medical Oncology, Hospital Universitario Clínico San Carlos, Calle del Prof Martín Lagos, Madrid 28040, Spain. carlos.aguado84@gmail.com
Received: May 9, 2022
Peer-review started: May 9, 2022
First decision: June 16, 2022
Revised: July 6, 2022
Accepted: August 30, 2022
Article in press: August 30, 2022
Published online: September 24, 2022
Processing time: 136 Days and 5.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Recent data from a phase 3 trial show that the addition of immunotherapy to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) improves pathologic complete response and event-free survival. This is the first positive phase 3 trial in this setting, although several other phase 3 studies are currently investigating the efficacy of neoadjuvant and adjuvant immunotherapy in resectable NSCLC. We describe the results of the CheckMate-816 phase 3 trial, which found that neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy was superior to chemotherapy alone. We also briefly review the main phase 3 studies currently underway to evaluate the role of immunotherapy in the perioperative setting of NSCLC.