Lung Cancer Research

Research advances in lung cancer include targeted therapies for specific mutations, immunotherapy combinations, and early screening methods.

Our Lung Cancer Analysis

• October 7, 2026The OncologistProspective multicenter observational cohort (UMIN000039761)

  Baseline Interstitial Lung Abnormalities Are Associated With Higher Checkpoint Inhibitor Pneumonitis Risk in Thoracic Cancers, in a Prospective Observational Cohort of 614 Patients

  In a prospective, multicenter Japanese cohort of 614 assessable patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent thoracic malignancies starting nivolumab, pembrolizumab or atezolizumab, 78 (12.7%) developed immune checkpoint inhibitor–related pneumonitis (ICI-P) over a median observation period of 14.4 months. Grade ≥3 pneumonitis occurred in 29 patients and 7 patients died owing to ICI-P.

• July 24, 2026Journal of Clinical OncologyBL-B01D1-101 (Phase Ib expansion cohort, single arm)

  Iza-bren Shows a 48.1% Response Rate in Relapsed Extensive-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer, but 75% Had Grade 3 or Higher Treatment-Related Adverse Events in a Single-Arm Phase Ib Cohort

  BL-B01D1-101 is an open-label, multicenter phase I study of izalontamab brengitecan (iza-bren; BL-B01D1), an EGFR-HER3 bispecific antibody-drug conjugate carrying a topoisomerase I inhibitor payload. The phase Ib extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cohort treated 52 patients who had progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy and a PD-(L)1 inhibitor.

• September 24, 2026JAMA Oncology

  Modifiable Risk Factors Account for an Estimated 84% of the Male–Female Cancer Gap in China but 26% in the UK

  A multicohort analysis of 589,766 adults aged 40 to 74 years without prior cancer, drawn from the Shanghai Men’s Health Study, the Shanghai Women’s Health Study and UK Biobank, estimated how much of the higher cancer incidence in males is attributable to 11 lifestyle factors and health conditions.

• September 22, 2026Nature MedicinePATHFINDER 2 (NCT05155605)

  Multi-Cancer Blood Test Reaches 60% Positive Predictive Value and 99.6% Specificity in Largest Prospective Screening Study to Date

  PATHFINDER 2, a prospective, interventional cohort study of 35,878 adults aged 50 and older with no clinical suspicion of cancer, evaluated the performance and safety of a blood-based multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test that analyzes cell-free DNA methylation patterns to detect a shared cancer signal and predict its tissue of origin.

• September 11, 2026The Lancet OncologySYMPRO-Lung

  Weekly Symptom Monitoring Linked to 5-Month Survival Gain in Lung Cancer

  A post-hoc analysis of the SYMPRO-Lung trial, a multicentre, stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised study across 14 Dutch centres, reports that weekly online patient-reported symptom monitoring was associated with longer overall survival in patients with lung cancer, extending follow-up well beyond the trial's original quality-of-life readout.

• September 12, 2026New England Journal of MedicineTAISHAN-302

  Tam-Peli Cuts Death Risk 54% Versus Topotecan in Relapsed Small-Cell Lung Cancer

  The phase 3 TAISHAN-302 trial's interim analysis reports that the B7-H3-targeted antibody-drug conjugate tambotatug pelitecan (Tam-Peli) significantly extends overall and progression-free survival compared with topotecan in patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) that relapsed after platinum-based chemotherapy.

• July 27, 2026Journal of Clinical OncologyNCT04294810

  SKYSCRAPER-01: Adding Tiragolumab to Atezolizumab Fails to Improve PFS or OS in PD-L1-High NSCLC

  A global, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial (SKYSCRAPER-01) tested whether adding the anti-TIGIT antibody tiragolumab to atezolizumab would improve outcomes over atezolizumab alone in previously untreated, PD-L1-high non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

• August 27, 2026Clinical Cancer ResearchNCT02675829

  T-DM1 Shows Strongest Activity in Salivary Gland Cancer in HER2-Amplified Basket Trial

  A single-center, non-randomized phase 2 basket trial tested ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) across five disease-specific cohorts of HER2-amplified solid tumors, asking whether a shared molecular driver predicts benefit from a HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate regardless of tumor origin.

• August 20, 2026JAMA Oncology

  Industry Now Outpaces Federal Cancer Trial Sponsorship Nearly 5 to 1 — And the Gap Is Widening

  A registry-based analysis of 11,681 US interventional cancer trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov between 2008 and 2024 found that industry sponsors now outnumber federal sponsors nearly 5 to 1 (4.53-to-1 overall), with the ratio widening from 2.72-to-1 in 2008–2012 to 6.44-to-1 in 2019–2024.

• August 14, 2026Clinical Cancer ResearchFLARE-RT (NCT02773238)

  PET-Guided Adaptive Radiation Boost Improves Local Control in Unresectable NSCLC

  The Phase II FLARE-RT trial used mid-treatment FDG-PET response to selectively boost radiation dose (to 74 Gy, peak >90 Gy) only in the roughly one-third of unresectable NSCLC patients whose tumors were not responding, while treating responders with standard 60 Gy chemoradiation.

• August 7, 2026The Lancet OncologyPACIFIC post-hoc analysis (NCT02125461)

  PPIs and Antibiotics Linked to Blunted Durvalumab Benefit in Stage III NSCLC

  A post-hoc analysis of the phase III PACIFIC trial (660 of 713 originally randomized patients; 449 durvalumab, 211 placebo) examined whether baseline exposure to proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) or antibiotics was associated with worse outcomes after consolidation durvalumab for unresectable stage III NSCLC, at a median follow-up of 62.4 months.

• August 3, 2026Cancer DiscoveryNCI 18-C-0110 (NCT03554473)

  TGF-β Blockade Plus PD-L1 Inhibition Triggers Hyperprogression in Relapsed Small Cell Lung Cancer

  A single-center, investigator-initiated Phase Ib/II trial (NCI protocol 18-C-0110, NCT03554473) tested bintrafusp alfa — a bifunctional PD-L1/TGF-β fusion protein — alone or with chemotherapy in 37 patients with relapsed small cell lung cancer treated between 2019 and 2022.

• July 13, 2026JAMA OncologyTREASURE (AIO-TRK-0320; NCT04462276)

  Adding Consolidative Thoracic Radiotherapy to Atezolizumab Maintenance Increases Toxicity Without Survival Benefit in Extensive-Stage SCLC: The Phase 2 TREASURE Trial

  Multicenter, open-label, randomized phase 2 trial (TREASURE, AIO-TRK-0320) at 20 sites in Germany and Austria testing whether adding consolidative thoracic radiotherapy (TRT, 30 Gy in 10 fractions) to atezolizumab maintenance improves overall survival in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) after induction chemoimmunotherapy; 96 patients screened, 68 randomized 1:1

• March 15, 2026New England Journal of MedicineOptiTROP-Lung04 (NCT05870319)

  Sacituzumab Tirumotecan Demonstrates Superior Progression-Free and Overall Survival in EGFR-TKI–Resistant Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

  The Phase III OptiTROP-Lung04 trial randomized 376 patients with EGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC that progressed after EGFR-TKI therapy to sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT) monotherapy or platinum-based chemotherapy