Role of erlotinib in the targeted treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer in Chinese patients

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have been demonstrated to improve responses and clinical outcomes significantly in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In retrospective subgroup analyses of several studies, patients with Asian ethnicity (including Chinese) are a subpopulation who responds well to EGFR TKI therapy. Since EGFR-mutation status has emerged as an important predictor of a substantially increased benefit, the high mutation rate in the Asian (including Chinese) population could be the explanation for a superior benefit from EGFR TKI therapy. Erlotinib (Tarceva®), one of the EGFR TKIs, has been proved to be effective in second- and third-line therapy, and furthermore in first-line and maintenance settings. In this review, we summarize current data of clinical trials with erlotinib and discuss its role in the targeted treatment of NSCLC in Chinese patients.