Treatment of Advanced and Metastatic Squamous Non-small Cell Lung Cancer / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

Lung cancer is a disease with a poor prognosis, and is the leading cause of cancer-related death in Korea as well as the USA. Unlike non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), squamous NSCLC rarely harbors epidermal growth factor receptor and anaplastic lymphoma kinase mutations for which directed molecular targeted therapies are available. Traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs, including cisplatin, have been approved for use in the treatment of advanced and metastatic squamous NSCLC. The second-generation regimens-gemcitabine, paclitaxel, docetaxel, and vinorelbine with cisplatin-are standard first-line treatments for advanced and metastatic squamous NSCLC. Docetaxel was approved for second-line treatment in 1999. Addition of the antiangiogenic agent, ramucirumab, to docetaxel showed improved survival in squamous cell NSCLC patients in the second-line setting compared with single-agent docetaxel. The immune checkpoint inhibitor-programmed cell death-1 inhibitor, nivolumab, is currently approved for squamous cell NSCLC. Pembrolizumab also received FDA approval for treatment of NSCLC cases in which tumor tissue is positive for programmed cell death-ligand 1 expression.