Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate
This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and Japan’s Clinical Trials Act. The protocol was registered with the University Hospital Medical Information Network, Japan (protocol identification number: UMIN000022431). All patients provided written informed consent.
Consent for Publication
All patients provided consent for publication.
Availability of Data and Material
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.
Competing interests
T Tokito reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, MSD, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chugai, Ono Pharmaceutical, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Nippon Kayaku outside the submitted work. K Yamada reports consulting fees from Healios, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chugai, and Bristol Myers Squibb outside the submitted work. H Ishii reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, MSD, Ono Pharmaceutical, Chugai, Bristol Myers Squibb, and AMCO outside the submitted work. Y Takiguchi reports research contact and personal fees from AstraZeneca and Ono Pharmaceutical; research contact from MSD; research grant and personal fees from Chugai; and research grant from Eli Lilly outside the submitted work. G Saito reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, MSD, Novartis Pharma, Daiichi Sankyo, Chugai, Ono Pharmaceutical, and Taiho Pharmaceutical outside the submitted work. H Tanaka reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chugai, Ono Pharmaceutical, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Merck outside the submitted work. S Miura reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chugai, Ono Pharmaceutical, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, Novartis Pharma, Daiichi Sankyo, Taiho Pharmaceutical, Pfizer, MSD, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, AbbVie, Nippon Kayaku, AMGEN, and Takeda Pharmaceutical outside the submitted work. K Watanabe reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chugai, Ono Pharmaceutical, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, MSD, AMGEN, and Takeda Pharmaceutical outside the submitted work. A Ono reports research funding and personal fees from AstraZeneca; research funding from Janssen Research & Development; and personal fees from Chugai, Ono Pharmaceutical, and Bristol Myers Squibb outside the submitted work. N Furuya reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chugai, Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis Pharma, Taiho Pharmaceutical, and Pfizer outside the submitted work. T Misumi reports personal fees from AstraZeneca and Chugai outside the submitted work. H Okamoto reports grants and personal fees from MSD, Chugai, and Bristol Myers Squibb; personal fees from AstraZeneca, Kyorin, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novartis; and grants from Merck, Taiho, Eli Lilly, and Astellas outside the submitted work. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.
Funding:
This study did not receive any funding.
Authors’contributions
Takaaki Tokito: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Visualization, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Writing - original draft.
Kazuhiko Yamada: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Hidenobu Ishii: Investigation, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Yuichi Takiguchi: Investigation, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Go Saito: Investigation, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Koichi Minato: Investigation, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Hisao Imai: Investigation, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Hiroshi Tanaka: Investigation, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Satoru Miura: Investigation, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Kageaki Watanabe: Investigation, Writing - reviewing and editing.
YoshifusaKoreeda: Investigation, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Akira Ono: Investigation, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Naoki Furuya: Investigation, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Toshihiro Misumi: Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Kazushige Hayakawa: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Etsuyo Ogo: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Hiroaki Okamoto: Methodology, Supervision, Project administration, Writing - reviewing and editing.
Acknowledgments
We thank the patients, their families, Thoracic Oncology Research Group data center staff, and all the investigators who participated in the TORG1529 study.