Over the last decade, immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) has dramatically changed the treatment landscape for patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The success of ICI-based therapy in the metastatic setting fed the interest to also evaluate the potential of immunotherapy in earlier NSCLC disease stages. This article will provide a brief overview of the available, practice-changing data with ICI-based therapy in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment for patients with early-stage NSCLC. Recently, these data led to the EMA approval of atezolizumab as monotherapy in the adjuvant treatment of selected early-stage NSCLC patients. In addition, EMA approval is currently also being sought for the combination of nivolumab and chemotherapy as neoadjuvant therapy for patients with resectable NSCLC. In addition to the results in the (neo)adjuvant setting, this article will also address the clinical basis for ICI-based therapy in unresectable,locally-advanced NSCLC.
