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Review
. 2023 Sep 22;13(10):1427.
doi: 10.3390/jpm13101427.

Adjuvant Targeted Therapy in Solid Cancers: Pioneers and New Glories

Marco Sposito  1 , Lorenzo Belluomini  1 , Letizia Pontolillo  2   3 , Daniela Tregnago  1 , Ilaria Trestini  1 , Jessica Insolda  1 , Alice Avancini  1 , Michele Milella  1 , Emilio Bria  2   3 , Luisa Carbognin  4 , Sara Pilotto  1
Affiliations
Review

Adjuvant Targeted Therapy in Solid Cancers: Pioneers and New Glories

Marco Sposito et al. J Pers Med. .

Abstract

Targeted therapy (TT) has revolutionized cancer treatment, successfully applied in various settings. Adjuvant TT in resected early-stage gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and breast cancer has led to practice-changing achievements. In particular, standard treatments include BRAF inhibitors for melanoma, osimertinib for NSCLC, hormone therapy or HER2 TT for breast cancer, and imatinib for GIST. Despite the undeniable benefit derived from adjuvant TT, the optimal duration of TT and the appropriate managing of the relapse remain open questions. Furthermore, neoadjuvant TT is emerging as valuable, particularly in breast cancer, and ongoing studies evaluate TT in the perioperative setting for early-stage NSCLC. In this review, we aim to collect and describe the large amount of data available in the literature about adjuvant TT across different histologies, focusing on epidemiology, major advances, and future directions.

Keywords: GIST; NSCLC; adjuvant setting; breast cancer; melanoma; targeted therapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

L.B. received speakers’ fees from Astra-Zeneca, MSD, and Roche, outside the submitted manuscript; and travel fees from Takeda. E.B. received speakers’ and travel fees from MSD, Astra-Zeneca, Celgene, Pfizer, Helsinn, Eli-Lilly, BMS, Novartis, and Roche. E.B. received institutional research grants from Astra-Zeneca and Roche. S.P. received honoraria or speakers’ fees from Astra-Zeneca, Eli-Lilly, BMS, MSD, Takeda, Amgen, Novartis, and Roche, outside the submitted manuscript. L.C. received speakers’ fee from Eli-Lilly, Novartis, and Astra-Zeneca. All remaining authors have declared no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Timeline of targeted therapies’ approval in the last decade across several histologies. Legend: DFS, disease free survival; HR, hazard ratio; y, years; iDFS, invasive disease-free survival; N+, nodal involvement; pts, patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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