Neoadjuvant therapy of NSCLC: a review of the use and impact of monoclonal antibodies

From the 1960s and up until 2021, neoadjuvant chemotherapy has represented the standard of care for potentially resectable stage III (N2) Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). However, in recent years, immunotherapy in the form of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs) has revolutionized oncology treatment strategies and several ICIs have been investigated for the neoadjuvant treatment of NSCLC, both in monotherapy and in combination with other ICIs or chemotherapy. Therefore, this paper aims to review the currently available data supporting the role of immunotherapy in the neoadjuvant setting, as well as to discuss the challenges associated with it. We undertook a comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, of abstracts and posters from annual meetings of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) up until November 2024. We believe that in a near future ICI plus chemotherapy combinations will represent the new recommended standard of care in the neoadjuvant/perioperative setting. We look forward to the full results coming from the ongoing randomized phase III trials, that will help us guide our choice in terms of patient selection, regimen of choice and response assessment.