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Durvalumab for the Treatment of Patients with Stage IA2-III Non-small Cell Lung Cancer who Have Minimal Residual Disease

Trial Status: active

This phase II trial studies the effect of durvalumab in treating patients with stage IA2-III non-small cell lung cancer who have positive minimal residual disease (MRD). Durvalumab is a checkpoint inhibitor and also known as immunotherapy. One of the ways tumors avoid being killed by the immune system is by expressing a protein on its surface called PD-L1, which interacts with PD-1 on the immune cell, and stops the immune cell from doing its job of killing the tumor. One of the most promising therapies involves activating the immune system to target and kill the cancer cells. Many cancers hide from the immune system by activating "checkpoints" like PD-L1 that the immune system uses to identify cells as normal cells. The immunotherapy treatments inhibit these checkpoints, allowing the immune system to target and kill cancer cells. Durvalumab targets PD-L1 and blocks the interaction of PD-1 and PD-L1, and essentially activate your immune system to target and kill the cancer cells. For patients with early stage disease, the backbone of therapy is surgery or radiation. Despite this, rates of disease coming back (relapse) after treatment of early stage disease remain high. Giving durvalumab after standard treatment may reduce the number of circulating cancer cells detected in the blood in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.