title: Effects of icotinib on early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer as neoadjuvant treatment with different epidermal growth factor receptor phenotypes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) have demonstrated efficacy in treating advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Preliminary findings suggested that EGFR-TKIs might also be beneficial in neoadjuvant therapy in treating NSCLC. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant therapy with icotinib in patients with early-stage NSCLC.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed the medical history of patients who were initially diagnosed with stage IA-IIIA NSCLC and were under icotinib administration before surgery between December 2011 and December 2014. Tumor assessment was conducted between the second and fourth week from initial icotinib treatment. The association between personal characteristics, smoking status, disease stage, EGFR mutation status, and clinical outcomes were investigated using multivariate logistic regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 67 patients with NSCLC were reviewed, and approximately half (38/67) of them were identified as having EGFR-mutant tumors. The overall response rate of all patients was 26.7% at 2-4 weeks' assessment. Multivariate analysis showed that female sex (38.5% versus 10.7% in males, P=0.028) and EGFR mutation status (42.1% versus 6.9% in EGFR wild type, P=0.011) were independent predictive factors. The analysis also showed that the most common adverse effects were rash (43.3%) and dry skin (34.4%), which were tolerable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Icotinib induced clinical response with minimal toxicity as neoadjuvant treatment in early NSCLC, especially in patients with common EGFR mutations. Further studies are warranted to confirm our findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Naichao
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yundong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhouhuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: epidermal growth factor receptor; neoadjuvant; non-small-cell lung cancer; tyrosine kinase inhibitor