International trial of adjuvant therapy in high risk stage I non-squamous cell carcinoma identified by a 14-gene prognostic signature.

There is widespread agreement amongst clinical oncologists that more refined risk-stratification in early-stage lung cancer patients beyond conventional TNM staging is needed. Over the past decade, a number of molecular prognostic signatures have been designed to meet this need by correlating patterns in the differences in gene expression or modification to patient prognosis. Unfortunately, the majority of proposed signatures are not amenable to practical widespread implementation or have not yet undergone large-scale, rigorous clinical validation. A practical 14-gene prognostic signature that has undergone large-scale blinded independent validation is now ready for widespread clinical use. An international clinical trial is underway that has been designed to document the precise degree of benefit derived from adjuvant therapy in high-risk stage I patients identified by the 14-gene prognostic assay.