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Background: We investigated the association of peripheral blood inflammatory markers with overall survival (OS) in pembrolizumab treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC) patients with programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression ≥50%. Clinical risk factors for development of immunerelated adverse events (irAE) were also explored.Methods: aNSCLC patients with high PD-L1 expression receiving pembrolizumab monotherapy outside of clinical trials were identified retrospectively. All patients were treated at one of six British Columbia Cancer clinics between August 2017 and June 2019. Patients were dichotomized using baseline neutrophilto-lymphocyte ratio (NLR,

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BackgroundInhibition of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (alk) oncogenic driver in advanced non-small-cell lung carcinoma (nsclc) improves survival. In 2015, Canadian thoracic oncology specialists published a consensus guideline about the identification and treatment of ALK-positive patients, recommending use of the alk inhibitor crizotinib in the first line. New scientific literature warrants a consensus update.MethodsClinical trials of alk inhibitor were reviewed to assess benefits, risks, and implications relative to current Canadian guidance in patients with ALK-positive nsclc.ResultsRandomized phase iii trials have demonstrated clinical benefit for single-agent alectinib and ceritinib used in treatment-naïve patients and as second-line therapy after crizotinib. Phase ii trials have demonstrated activity for single-agent brigatinib and lorlatinib in further lines of therapy. Improved responses in brain metastases were observed for all second- and next/third-generation alk tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients progressing on crizotinib. Canadian recommendations are therefore revised as follows:Patients with advanced nonsquamous nsclc have to be tested for the presence of an ALKrearrangement.Treatment-naïve patients with ALK-positive disease should initially be offered single-agent alectinib or ceritinib, or both sequentially.Crizotinib-refractory patients should be treated with single-agent alectinib or ceritinib, or both sequentially.Further treatments could include single-agent brigatinib or lorlatinib, or both sequentially.Patients progressing on alk tyrosine kinase inhibitors should be considered for pemetrexed-based chemotherapy.Other systemic therapies should be exhausted before immunotherapy is considered.SummaryMultiple lines of alk inhibition are now recommended for patients with advanced nsclc with an ALKrearrangement.