Lung cancer remains the most dangerous malignant disease, with the highest incidence and mortality throughout the world as well as in China12. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately 80% of lung cancer cases and most patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage3. Targeted therapy is already being used for the treatment of advanced NSCLC harboring EGFR mutations, EML4-ALK fusion, etc4. However, the patients with EGFR mutations only account for 10–35 percent of NSCLC patients and the frequency of EML4-ALK fusion patients is just 5–7 percent5, meaning that the remaining patients still need to rely on platinum-based chemotherapy. Although the platinum-based doublet chemotherapy is the most common first-line treatment for patients with advanced NSCLC, the efficacy of the chemotherapy regimen remains far from ideal and patients usually experience severe adverse effects. As a result, fewer than 35% of patients show a positive response to platinum-based chemotherapy and the 3-year survival rate is less than 10% in unselected NSCLC patients6.