Targeting non-small cell lung cancer with small-molecule EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors

•Comprehensive review of EGFRTK inhibitors.•Helps in understanding the structural and developmental aspects of small molecular EGFR TKIs.•Focuses on mutant-selective irreversible inhibitors.•Help medicinal chemists to design novel EGFR TKIs. Epidermal growth factor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as gefitinib and erlotinib, show excellent clinical efficacy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR mutations, including Exon 19 deletion and single-point substitution, and L858R of exon 21. The reason for the reduction in effectiveness of these EGFR TKIs is the T790M gatekeeper mutation in the ATP-binding pocket of Exon 20, which increases the affinity of EGFR for ATP. Newer EGFR TKIs, such as afatinib, osimertinib, rociletinib, EGF816 and ASP8273, selectively target T790M mutants, sparing wild-type EGFR. EGFR TKIs have fewer adverse effects than chemotherapy and also improve progression-free survival. Combination therapy of EGFR TKIs with anti-EGFR antibodies is recommended for overcoming the problem of resistance to some extent. This review could help medicinal chemists to design novel EGFR TKIs against NSCLC.