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In 2017, immunotherapy is the standard of care for patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) either in the first or second line depending on programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) and mutation status. For first-line therapy, pembrolizumab is currently the standard of care for patients whose tumors express PD-L1 >50%. All patients with NSCLC should undergo PD-L1 testing before initiating treatment on pembrolizumab. For patients not eligible in the first line, immunotherapy is the standard of care for most in the second line. Nivolumab and atezolizumab are approved in all patients as second-line therapies after platinum-based doublet failure regardless PD-L1 expression level, although pembrolizumab is approved as second-line therapy for those whose tumors express PD-L1 >1%.

For the use of immunotherapy in metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the NCCN Guidelines for NSCLC reflect the importance of assessing levels of PD-L1 expression to determine the best use of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, whether alone or in combination with chemotherapy. Patients who lack a driver mutation and have tumor PD-L1 expression ≥50% are recommended to receive single-agent pembrolizumab, although combining with carboplatin/pemetrexed is also a reasonable choice, especially if there is higher burden of disease. For tumors with PD-L1 expression <50%, it is important to distinguish between nonsquamous and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). For patients with non-SCC disease, pembrolizumab + carboplatin/pemetrexed is preferred. Alternately, a 4-drug regimen of carboplatin/paclitaxel/bevacizumab/atezolizumab is reasonable, especially for patients ineligible for pemetrexed. In patients with SCC, carboplatin + paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel with pembrolizumab is a category 1 recommendation. Tumor mutational burden is emerging as a biomarker for efficacy but is not yet ready to be used in patient selection. Optimal management of the unique toxicities associated with immunotherapy, which can be more frequent with these combinations, is also critical for good outcomes.

This selection from the NCCN Guidelines for Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) focuses on targeted therapies and immunotherapies for metastatic NSCLC, because therapeutic recommendations are rapidly changing for metastatic disease. For example, new recommendations were added for atezolizumab, ceritinib, osimertinib, and pembrolizumab for the 2017 updates.

The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) address all aspects of management for NSCLC. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on recent updates to the NCCN Guidelines regarding targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and their respective biomarkers.

The NCCN Guidelines for Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) address all aspects of management for NSCLC. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on recent updates to the targeted therapy and immunotherapy sections in the NCCN Guidelines. For the 2018 update, a new section on biomarkers was added.

The NCCN Guidelines for Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) address all aspects of disease management. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on recent updates to the NCCN Guidelines for SCLC regarding immunotherapy, systemic therapy, and radiation therapy. For the 2018 update, new sections were added on “Signs and Symptoms of SCLC” and “Principles of Pathologic Review.”