Role of erlotinib in the targeted treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer in Chinese patients

Abstract

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have been demonstrated to improve responses and clinical outcomes significantly in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In retrospective subgroup analyses of several studies, patients with Asian ethnicity (including Chinese) are a subpopulation who responds well to EGFR TKI therapy. Since EGFR-mutation status has emerged as an important predictor of a substantially increased benefit, the high mutation rate in the Asian (including Chinese) population could be the explanation for a superior benefit from EGFR TKI therapy. Erlotinib (Tarceva®), one of the EGFR TKIs, has been proved to be effective in second- and third-line therapy, and furthermore in first-line and maintenance settings. In this review, we summarize current data of clinical trials with erlotinib and discuss its role in the targeted treatment of NSCLC in Chinese patients. © 2014 Li et al.