Immunotherapy in surgically resectable non-small cell lung cancer

Surgical resection is the mainstay of therapy for patients with resectable and operable early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Surgery alone yields an unacceptably high rate of lung cancer recurrence. The addition of chemotherapy to surgery as adjuvant or neoadjuvant treatment can improve survival rates by roughly 5% at 5 years. Recently, major advances in cancer immunotherapy have led to better outcomes for many patients with lung cancer. Monoclonal antibodies to programmed death 1 and its ligand are now approved for both first and second line treatment patients with metastatic lung cancer. In this review, we will outline the rationale and current research strategies investigating the role of immunotherapy in resectable NSCLC.