Materials and methods Patients 45 patients with histologically or cytologically confirmed stage IIIB or IV NSCLC received see more Ilomastat nmr gefitinib as first-line treatment between July 2006 and Oct 2008 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. All of these patients were treated initially and had at least one measurable focus according to standard Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) [15]. These 45 patients consisted of 19 males

and 26 females with median age around 61.8 years (range: 30-78). 17 patients had smoking history. In terms of tumor histologic types, the patients included 26 adenocarcinomas, 4 bronchioloalveolar carcinomas, 10 squamous cell carcinomas and 5 adenosquamous carcinomas. According to American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging manual, 14 patients were in stage IIIB and 31 patients in stage IV. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG-PS) value was less than 2 in 32 patients, and 3 – 4 in 13 patients (Table 1). All patients provided written informed consent before enrollment. This protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the participating centers. Table 1 Clinical material and efficacy of the 45 patients Characters

NO. CR, n (%) PR, n (%) SD, n(%) PD, n (%) Gender           BIIB057 chemical structure    Male 19 0 15.8(3) 36.8(7) 47.4(9)    Female 26 0 46.1(12) 38.5(10) 15.4(4) Age(year)              < 70 35 0 34.3(12) 37.1(13) 28.6(10)    ≥70 10 0 30.0(3) 40.0(4) 30.0(3) Smoking status              Smokers 17 0 17.6(3) 41.2(7) 41.2(7)    Non-smokers 28 0 42.9(12) 35.7(10) 21.4(6) Tumor histology              Adeno. 26 0 38.5(10) 42.3(11) 19.2(5)    BAC 4 0 75.0(3) 25.0(1) 0.0(0) Squamous 10 0 10.0(1) 30.0(3) 60.0(6)    Adenosquamous 5 0 20.0(1) 40.0(2) 40.0(2) Stage              IIIb 14 0 28.6(4) 50.0(7) 21.4(3)    IV 31 0 35.4(11) 32.3(10) 32.3(10) Brain metastasis Farnesyltransferase 4 0 75.0(3) 25.0(1) 0.0(0) PS value    

         ≤ 2 32 0 37.5(12) 37.5(12) 25.0(8)    3~4 13 0 23.0(3) 38.5(5) 38.5(5) Therapy Gefitinib (AstraZeneca Company) was administered orally 250 mg daily, 28 days as a cycle. The treatment was continued until disease progression or intolerable toxicity. Observation index We conducted a thorough physical examination on each patient to acquaint with the health status (PS method). Blood routine, hepatic and renal function, electrocardiogram, PET/CT or CT were examined. These indexes were reexamined regularly during the trial, and the image examination was performed after the first one cycle. After that, the image examination was conducted once two cycles. The follow-up of patients by telephone or outpatient service for 1 year was performed. Evaluative standards Tumor response was assessed as complete response (CR), partial response (PR), stable disease (SD), or progression disease (PD) in accordance with the standard of RECIST [15].