Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34083418›Full record

ReviewJournal for immunotherapy of cancer2021

Neoadjuvant immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer: right drugs, right patient, right time?

Elizabeth Ahern, Ben J Solomon, Rina Hui, Nick Pavlakis, Ken O'Byrne, Brett G M Hughes

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Journal for immunotherapy of cancer, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
4.4field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

40 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. The efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy in resectable stage I-III non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2025
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  16. Novel FABP4Cell death & disease · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.

Elizabeth AhernSchool of Clinical Sciences, Monash University Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences, Clayton, Victoria, Australia elizabeth.ahern@monash.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-2062-5695
Ben J SolomonMedical Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Rina HuiMedical Oncology, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
Nick PavlakisFaculty of Medicine, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Ken O'ByrneMedical Oncology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia.
Brett G M HughesMedical Oncology, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia.
The University of Sydney · AUPeter MacCallum Cancer Centre · AUQIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute · AUQueensland University of Technology · AUThe University of Queensland · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Standard curative treatment of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) involves surgery in combination with postoperative (adjuvant) platinum-based chemotherapy where indicated. Preoperative (neoadjuvant) therapies offer certain theoretical benefits compared with adjuvant approaches, including the ability to assess on-treatment response, reduce the tumor bulk prior to surgery, and enhance tolerability in the preoperative setting. Indeed, the use of neoadjuvant therapies are well established in other cancers such as breast and rectal cancers to debulk the tumor and guide ongoing therapy, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy has similar efficacy but less toxicity in NSCLC. More recently, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) targeting programmed death-1 (PD1)/PD1-ligand 1 (PD-L1) have transformed the treatment of advanced NSCLC; the unique mechanisms of action of ICI offer additional rationale for assessment in the neoadjuvant setting. Preclinical studies in mouse cancer models support the proof of concept of neoadjuvant ICI (NAICI) through improvement of T-cell effector function and long-term memory induction. Preliminary early-phase human trial data support the proposition that NAICI in NSCLC may provide an feasible and potentially efficacious future treatment strategy and large, randomized phase III trials are currently recruiting to assess this approach. However, outstanding issues include defining optimal treatment combinations which balance high efficacy with acceptable toxicity, validating biomarkers to aid in patient selection, and avoiding potential pitfalls such as missing a window for successful surgery, that is, choosing the right drugs, for the right patient, at the right time. Predictive biomarkers to direct selection of therapy are required, and the validation of major pathological response (MPR) as a surrogate for survival will be important in the uptake of the neoadjuvant approach.

Indexed as

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell LungClinical Trials as TopicHumansImmune Checkpoint InhibitorsImmunotherapyLung NeoplasmsNeoadjuvant TherapyT-LymphocytesImmune Checkpoint Inhibitorscombined modality therapyimmunotherapylung neoplasmsreviewtumor biomarkers

Identifiers

PMID34083418
PMCPMC8183290
OpenAlexW3164793043

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.