Big moment for patient advocacy at #AACR26👏

AACR Annual Meeting 2026
April 17–22, 2026 · San Diego · 2418 items
Lung cancer: perioperative IO and KRAS NSCLC
Start here
Lung cancer is still the meeting’s public square: perioperative immunotherapy, KRAS, and lung adenocarcinoma in never-smokers, three lines in one week. KRAS drug readouts live in direction 1. This chapter is how the tumor type uses those drugs, and how immunotherapy is moving from late disease into the months around surgery.
Two facts first: adebrelimab in the perioperative setting cut event risk by about half; taletrectinib in ROS1-positive disease responded in 90% of patients, for nearly fifty months. The rest is stratification: EGFR, ALK, MET, ctDNA clearance — pulling apart the single PD-L1 slide.
The AACR-JCA joint session wrote never-smoker lung cancer as its own biology, not a diluted smoker’s disease. Sherlock-Lung’s 1,209 whole genomes: EGFR more often in never-smokers, KRAS more often in smokers. That matches how targeted drugs are used.
Perioperative IO is already an MNC main field. A Chinese PD-L1 antibody (adebrelimab) sat down at that table with EFS data. The next step is not another response rate. It is whether stopping treatment can be MRD-gated, and whether a bispecific can beat a monoclonal in neoadjuvant disease.
Do not read lung-cancer heat as “another PD-1.” What is changing is the window (late → perioperative) and the ruler (PD-L1 → KRAS / ctDNA / never-smoker). Drugs print their numbers in other directions; this chapter is how they are used.
For Chinese IO to enter the global lung main track, the condition is perioperative data the FDA can review, not only a China cohort. The bispecific (JS207 vs nivo) has already written that into a trial.
- Whether perioperative IO can stop on an MRD gate.
- Whether a PD-1/VEGF bispecific in neoadjuvant disease can beat the current monoclonals.
- Whether STK11 / KEAP1 co-mutant patients have a combination that actually works.
adebrelimab · Perioperative EFS HR 0.52Resectable NSCLC
Records
| Drug / trial | Readout | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| adebrelimabadebrelimab#NSCLC | Perioperative EFS HR 0.52 | Resectable NSCLC |
| taletrectinib | ROS1+ ORR 90%, DoR 49.7 mo | JCO concurrent with the meeting |
| CheckMate 77Tnivolumab#LIQUIDBIOPSY#NSCLC | High pCR only in ctDNA clearers | Same readout as the MRD direction |
| LCINS / Sherlock-LungEGFRKRAS#LUNGCANCER | 1,209 WGS: EGFR in never-smokers, KRAS in smokers | A separate-disease frame |
Floor
x.com@Score6060 x.com@Score6060 🫁Dirozalkib yielded promising efficacy among patients with ALK-positive NSCLC.
x.com@Score6060 Super interesting poster at #AACR26 by @BobakParang from @OSUCCC_James
x.com@Score6060 x.com@Score6060 x.com@Score6060
x.com@Score6060 x.com@Score6060 x.com@Score6060 Finally, we have the discovery of a resistance mechanism.
- 4 more on this topicEGFR · 14
x.com@Score6060 ADCs in #SCLC &NECs are giving researchers "goosebumps."
x.com@Score6060 Out-of-the-box thinking on #SCLC opens doors for novel approaches to treatment.
x.com@Score6060 x.com@Score6060 x.com@Score6060 - 2 more on this topic#LUNGCANCER · 9
Yale Cancer Center@YaleCancerScore6060 Claire Saxton (she/her)@clar_inet_saxScore6060 So proud of my son Luke! His analysis from a summer internship with
LUNGevity Foundation@LUNGevityScore6060 Great to see 2023 Lung Cancer Initiative-LUNGevity Career Development Awardee, Dr. Jaclyn LoPiccolo
LUNGevity Foundation@LUNGevityScore6060 LUNGevity Foundation@LUNGevityScore6060 Roberto Borea, MD@RobertoBoreaMDScore6060 Molecular Cancer Therapeutics@MCT_AACRScore6060 Online now! Simultaneous publication with an
LUNGevity Foundation@LUNGevityScore6060 BioWorld@BioWorldScore6060 #AACR26: Xuanzhu shares dip despite phase III ALK inhibitor data
Roberto Borea, MD@RobertoBoreaMDScore6060 Honored to receive feedback and a visit from
Other directions
- 1KRAS / RAS targeting: from platform to Phase 3
- 2PD-1 × VEGF bispecifics after ivonescimab
- 3Next-generation ADCs: payload innovation
- 4Immunotherapy: CAR-T in solid tumors, mRNA vaccines, TCR-T
- 6MRD / ctDNA / DTP: from detection to treatment decisions
- 7Platform layer: molecular glues, spatial omics, AI
- 8Medicinal chemistry beyond KRAS: CDK2, WEE1, SERD
- 10Breast cancer: HER2 de-escalation, MRD, TNBC
- 12The rest: ovarian, HNSCC, GBM and other floor tumors