Optimal front line treatment for European patients harboring EGFR mutations: Do longitude and race make a difference?

For decades oncologists have been convinced that advanced non-small-cell-lung cancer (NSCLC) was a unique disease with an invariable rapid progression and with platinum based chemotherapy as the only available option for metastatic patients with acceptable performance status. During the past few years, the better knowledge of molecular mechanisms underlying this lethal disease moved researchers to leave this nihilistic attitude in favor of a positive perspective. This is the case of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) and its activating mutations, mainly represented by deletion in exon 19 or the L858R substitution in exon 21.