• Safety and feasibility [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  
• Maximum tolerated dose of erlotinib hydrochloride [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  
• Safety and tolerability [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  

• Clinical and pathological response rate [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Overall survival [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Disease-specific survival [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Locoregional control [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Distant control [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• Assess the safety and feasibility of erlotinib hydrochloride, paclitaxel, and carboplatin in combination with accelerated hyperfractionated radiotherapy in patients with stage IIIA or IIIB non-small cell lung cancer.
• Determine the maximum tolerated dose and recommended phase II dose of erlotinib hydrochloride in these patients.
• Assess the safety and tolerability of long-term maintenance erlotinib hydrochloride after completion of adjuvant chemoradiotherapy in these patients.

Secondary

• Evaluate the clinical and pathological response rate in these patients after neoadjuvant erlotinib hydrochloride, paclitaxel, carboplatin, and radiotherapy.
• Assess the impact of erlotinib hydrochloride on disease-free survival, overall survival, locoregional control, and distant metastatic control in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is an open-label, phase I dose-escalation study of erlotinib hydrochloride followed by a non-randomized phase II study.

Cohorts of 3-6 patients receive escalating doses of erlotinib hydrochloride until the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is determined. The MTD is defined as the dose preceding that at which 2 of 3 or 2 of 6 patients experience dose-limiting toxicity.

• Phase I:

  • Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy: Patients receive oral erlotinib hydrochloride once daily on days 1-28 and paclitaxel IV over 1 hour and carboplatin IV over 30 minutes on days 1, 8, and 15 in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients concurrently undergo radiotherapy twice daily on days 1-5 and 8-12. Patients with complete response, partial response, or stable disease proceed to surgery. Patients who develop a medical contraindication to surgery (i.e., medically unresectable) receive a second course of erlotinib hydrochloride, paclitaxel, carboplatin, and radiotherapy as above within 2 weeks after completion of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.

Cohorts of 3-6 patients receive escalating doses of erlotinib hydrochloride until the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is determined. The MTD is defined as the dose preceding that at which 2 of 3 or 2 of 6 patients experience dose-limiting toxicity.

• Surgery: Within 4 weeks after completion of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, patients undergo surgical resection and then proceed to adjuvant chemoradiotherapy.
• Adjuvant chemoradiotherapy: Within 6-8 weeks after surgery, patients receive a second course of erlotinib hydrochloride, paclitaxel, carboplatin, and radiotherapy as in neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.

• Maintenance therapy: All patients receive oral erlotinib hydrochloride once daily for 2 years in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

  • Phase II: Patients receive treatment as in phase I with erlotinib hydrochloride at the MTD.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed periodically.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 42 patients will be accrued for this study.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically or cytologically confirmed non-small cell lung cancer

  • Surgically determined stage IIIA or IIIB disease

  • Histology from an involved mediastinal or supraclavicular lymph nodes alone will be allowed if a separate distal primary lesion is clearly evident on radiographs

    • Histological or cytological proof of mediastinal nodal involvement by mediastinoscopy, Chamberlain procedure, thoracoscopy, thoracotomy, or CT-guided biopsy is required except for cases of paralysis of left true vocal cord with separate left lung primary distinct from enlarged nodes > 1 cm in the anterior-posterior window seen on the CT scan
• Patients with N3 or T4 status must be evaluated and deemed potentially resectable after induction chemotherapy and radiation therapy
• Measurable and evaluable disease
• No malignant pleural effusion except for effusion visible only on CT scan and deemed too small to tap
• No pericardial effusion
• No small or mixed small cell/non-small cell lung cancer
• No massive lesions requiring radiation to the entire lung
• No metastatic cancer to the lungs

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• ECOG performance status 0-1
• WBC ≥ 3,000/mm^3
• Platelet count > 100,000/mm^3
• Serum creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL
• Alkaline phosphatase, AST, and ALT < 2 times upper limit of normal
• Albumin > 3.0 g/dL
• Serum bilirubin < 1.5 mg/dL
• Adequate pulmonary function
• No clinical evidence of another uncontrolled malignancy
• No requirement for urgent therapy for severe local symptoms such as post-obstructive pneumonia

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• No prior chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or immunotherapy for lung cancer
• No prior surgery to treat the cancer