Lung cancer continues to be the number-one cause of cancer deaths in the United States. In the past decade, we have seen great improvements in the treatment of metastatic lung cancer with targeted therapies and immunotherapy. “When targeted therapies aren’t an option, the current standard of care for patients is immunotherapy alone or in combination with chemotherapy. But many patients don’t respond to these treatments the way we’d like them to,” said Sean Pitroda, MD, assistant professor of Radiation and Cellular Oncology at the University of Chicago. “Our standard treatments do improve

Historically, surgery has been the most effective treatment for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While technological improvements, such as the development of minimally invasive techniques (such as video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery or VATS), have made surgeries safer for patients, the ability to cure early-stage NSCLC patients hasn’t improved significantly in recent decades. Even after successful surgeries that completely remove the visible tumor, about half of these patients will face a recurrence with their cancer coming back within five years. Researchers have