BJMO - 2025, issue SPECIAL, june 2025
Els Dewulf MSc
Extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) is a highly aggressive malignancy characterised by rapid growth, high metastatic potential, and poor prognosis. Despite historically limited progress, recent advances in immunotherapy and targeted agents have reshaped the treatment landscape. This article provides an overview of current standards and emerging strategies to improve outcomes for patients with ES-SCLC. The article is limited to systemic therapy and does not address the role of radiotherapy.
Read moreBJMO - 2025, issue SPECIAL, june 2025
Els Dewulf MSc
Over the past decade, the identification of actionable oncogenic driver alterations has revolutionised the treatment landscape of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Among these, rearrangements involving the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene, or ALK fusions, have emerged as a distinct molecular subset, primarily affecting younger patients with little or no smoking history. The development of ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has led to remarkable improvements in clinical outcomes, particularly compared to conventional chemotherapy. More recently, the role of ALK inhibition has also expanded into the adjuvant setting for patients with resectable disease. This article provides an up-to-date overview of the evolving therapeutic landscape for ALK-positive NSCLC.
Read moreBJMO - 2025, issue SPECIAL, june 2025
Els Dewulf MSc
Over the past few years, immunotherapy has radically changed the management of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). More recently, this paradigm shift has extended into early-stage resectable disease. A series of landmark trials have demonstrated that the addition of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in the perioperative setting, i.e. both before (neoadjuvant) and after (adjuvant) surgery, can significantly improve long-term outcomes. This article reviews the latest evidence supporting perioperative immunotherapy in resectable NSCLC.
Read moreBJMO - 2025, issue SPECIAL, june 2025
Tamara Verbeek MSc, Jolien Blokken PhD, PharmD
Up to 50% of the patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have actionable genomic alterations (AGAs), driving the use of targeted therapies. Over the past decade, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) -combining a monoclonal antibody, linker, and potent cytotoxic drug to selectively target cancer cells- have emerged as a promising treatment option. This article reviews the available evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of ADCs in patients with NSCLC harbouring AGAs.
Read moreBJMO - 2025, issue SPECIAL, june 2025
No authors
Over the past several years, AstraZeneca has received multiple regulatory approvals from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the use of osimertinib, durvalumab, and tremelimumab in the treatment of lung cancer. These approvals span various disease stages and histological subtypes and have contributed to significant changes in treatment algorithms for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC).
Read moreBJMO - 2022, issue Special, may 2022
T. Feys MBA, MSc
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive malignancy accounting for 15% of all diagnosed cases of lung cancer. For almost two decades there have been no clinically relevant therapeutic advances for this disease. In recent years, however, extensive-stage (ES) SCLC has become the second thoracic malignancy in which immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) has caused a dramatic therapeutic shift. Today, combinations of platinumetoposide chemotherapy with durvalumab or atezolizumab are considered standard of care in the first line treatment of patients with ES-SCLC. This article will summarize the clinical basis for this paradigm shift and will discuss some clinical challenges that remain with ICI in the treatment of ES-SCLC.
Read moreBJMO - 2022, issue Special, may 2022
T. Feys MBA, MSc
Over the last decade, the introduction of specific antibodies directed against the programmed death (PD-1) receptor, its ligand PD-L1 (programmed death ligand-1), and the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) receptor into the therapeutic armamentarium for patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) led to unprecedented improvements in the survival of a proportion of patients.1 While these immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) were initially evaluated as monotherapy in the second-line setting, more recent clinical trial data have moved these agents to the first-line setting, either as monotherapy or in combination regimens. In fact, it is fair to say that nearly all patients with non-oncogene driven mNSCLC nowadays receive an anti PD-(L)1 based treatment in first line. This article will briefly summarize the available clinical trial data with this therapeutic strategy after which the challenge of choosing the best immunotherapeutic option for the individual patient will be addressed.
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