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. 2010 Sep;2(3):144-53.
doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2010.02.03.6.

The role of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors in the treatment of advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer

Pei-Jye Voon  1 , Byoung Chul Cho, Wee-Lee Yeo, Ross A Soo
Affiliations

The role of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors in the treatment of advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer

Pei-Jye Voon et al. J Thorac Dis. 2010 Sep.

Abstract

The epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR TKIs) like erlotinib and gefitinib have been extensively studied. Multiple randomized trials have evaluated the role of EGFR TKIs in advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as a monotherapy in the first line, or subsequent lines of therapy, and in the first line in the maintenance setting or in combination with chemotherapy. Most of these trials showed positive results in particular for selected patients with specific clinical characteristic and somatic activating mutation of EGFR. A further understanding of the mechanism of primary and secondary resistance has led to the development of promising novel agents designed to overcome resistance to EGFR.

Keywords: Erlotinib; Gefitinib; epidermal growth factor receptor; non-small cell lung cancer; tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest.

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