ABSTRACT
The most common subtype of lung cancer is non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which has a poor prognosis and seriously threatens the health of human beings. The multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment model has gradually become the mainstream of NSCLC treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can be used effectively either as an adjunctive therapy or alone throughout the NSCLC therapy, which has a significant impact on survival, quality of life, and reduction of toxicity. Therefore, this paper reviewed the theoretical basis, the latest clinical application, and combined treatment mechanisms in order to explore the advantage stage of TCM treatment and the synergistic therapeutic mechanisms.
ABSTRACT
Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are treated in a variety of ways. In addition to radiotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapy, breakthroughs have been made in immune checkpoint inhibitors, in particular, programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) inhibitors have achieved survival benefits for NSCLC patients, and some of them have been approved as first-line drugs by the US Food and Drug Administration. Currently, commonly used PD-L1 inhibitors are atezolizumab, durvalumab and avelumab. Combination therapies include combination with chemotherapy, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor drugs, molecular targeted therapy and immunotherapy.