Perioperative immunotherapy took center stage on Monday, September 8, at the 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), with new findings presented during the Multi-Modal Treatment of Resectable Lung Cancer — Outcomes of Targeted Treatments and Immunotherapies in Early-Stage Lung Cancer session.
Among the presentations, Jonathan Spicer, MD, PhD, shared patient-reported outcomes (PROs) data from the phase III CheckMate 77T trial, which examined perioperative nivolumab by nodal status in patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Multi-Modal Treatment of Resectable Lung Cancer — Outcomes of Targeted Treatments and Immunotherapies in Early-Stage Lung Cancer
With on-demand access, registered WCLC 2025 attendees can still watch Jonathan Spicer, MD, PhD, and other experts present new evidence supporting immunotherapies in resectable lung cancer. LEARN MORE
In this global, randomized analysis, adults with resectable NSCLC received either neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy or placebo plus chemotherapy, followed by surgery and adjuvant therapy.
Exploratory analyses looked at nodal status (N2 vs. non-N2) in patients with stage III NSCLC and surgical outcomes, including surgery type, completeness of resection, and surgical complications. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed using the NCSLC-Symptom Assessment Questionnaire (NSCLC-SAQ) and EQ-5D-3L visual analogue scale.
Overall, Dr. Spicer noted that PRO completion rates were reported to be more than 90% across nodal status groups, and HRQoL was generally maintained across all treatment arms. Among patients with stage III N2 NSCLC, perioperative nivolumab was associated with a lower risk of deterioration compared with placebo, as measured by both symptom scores NSCLC-SAQ (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.28–0.88) and EQ-5D-3L VAS (HR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.27–0.82).
“It is important to note that both the N2 and non-N2 patients, if you look at the departure from baseline quality of life—other than the brief period after surgery—most patients remain within the non-clinically significant range,” Dr. Spicer said. “This indicates that perioperative nivolumab did not harm these patients; in fact, it provided benefit in a significant majority of them and was durable throughout the course of observation.”
The presentation was part of a broader discussion at the WCLC about the latest advances in the multi-model treatment of early-stage lung cancer, focusing on the use of immunotherapy and targeted therapy. These results from the phase III CheckMate 77T trial provide important reassurance that perioperative therapies, such as nivolumab and surgery, can lower the risk of deterioration, whether from a single lobectomy or complete resection.
“The data on health-related quality of life indicate that this regimen is both safe and tolerable for patients, with the best measures we have of quality of life assessment. That is very clearly true in the N2 population, suggesting the surgical course is an absolutely reasonable choice for these patients,” Dr. Spicer added.
