Progress and prospect of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor in treatment of non-small cell lung cancer

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is the most common driver gene of mutations in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) has become the most important and preferred treatment. EGFR-sensitive mutations mainly consist of exon 19 deletion (19Del) mutation and exon 21 L858R mutation, accounting for about 90% of EGFR mutations, while the 19Del subtype is more sensitive and effective to EGFR-TKI. For advanced NSCLC patients with EGFR-sensitive mutations, it is standard and reasonable to select any EGFR-TKI which has been given first-line indications in our country as first-line treatment, among which osimertinib is a better choice. Osimertinib has made a breakthrough in the adjuvant treatment for early- and middle-stage NSCLC, and greatly reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death. Researches on EGFR pathway will focus on overcoming EGFR-TKI resistance, development of EGFR rare mutation inhibitors and neoadjuvant targeted therapy.