Neoadjuvant treatment using chemotherapy and targeted therapy in a patient with resectable lung adenocarcinoma harboring BRAF V600E-mutation

In recent years, there has been significant progress in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Besides conventional chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy have demonstrated considerable efficacy in treating advanced NSCLC patients in both first and second-line settings. However, neoadjuvant therapy, as a promising therapeutic approach, requires further evaluation of its efficacy. Although targeted therapy for some common driver genes (EGFR, ALK) has been established as an effective treatment in the neoadjuvant setting, the efficacy of targeted therapy for other rare mutations remains uncertain. Within NSCLC, BRAF is one such rare driver gene and published data on the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with targeted therapy for the BRAF V600E mutation in the treatment of advanced NSCLC is limited. Here, we report the first case successful neoadjuvant chemotherapy with targeted therapy followed by radical surgical excision in a patient with lung adenocarcinoma harboring the BRAF V600E mutation. The case informs us that chemotherapy with targeted therapy could be administered as a neoadjuvant strategy for selected cases of NSCLC harboring the BRAF V600E mutation.