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The Role of Targeted Agents and Immunotherapy in Older Patients with Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

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Abstract

Lung cancer is predominantly a disease of the elderly. This subgroup of patients poses many challenges and an appropriate geriatric assessment is crucial for treatment personalisation in order to reduce the risk of over- or under-treatment. Whilst cytotoxic chemotherapy has been the backbone of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment for decades, the development of targeted agents for driver mutations such as EGFR, ALK, BRAF and ROS1 has changed the treatment paradigm and natural history of this disease. More recently, the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors has revolutionised treatment for a larger group of patients with locally advanced/metastatic disease. Limited data exist on safety and efficacy of these agents in the elderly population. Many questions remain regarding the available evidence for targeted therapies and immune checkpoint blockade in NSCLC and, in particular, their role in this subgroup of patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, 550 Wilmslow Road, Manchester, M20 4BX, UK

    Fabio Gomes, Rebecca Tay, Jaseela Chiramel & Raffaele Califano

  2. Department of Medical Oncology, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK

    Raffaele Califano

  3. Division of Cancer Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Raffaele Califano

Authors
  1. Fabio Gomes
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  2. Rebecca Tay
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  3. Jaseela Chiramel
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  4. Raffaele Califano
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Correspondence to Raffaele Califano.

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No funding was used in the preparation of this review article.

Conflict of Interest

RC has received honoraria for consultancy and advisory boards from BMS, MSD, Roche, AstraZeneca/Medimmune, Takeda and Novartis; RC declares not owning any stock in any of these companies. FG, RT and JC declare that they have no conflicts of interest that might be relevant to the contents of this review.

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Gomes, F., Tay, R., Chiramel, J. et al. The Role of Targeted Agents and Immunotherapy in Older Patients with Non-small Cell Lung Cancer. Drugs Aging 35, 819–834 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40266-018-0573-z

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