Treatment Guidance for Patients With Lung Cancer During the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic

The global coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic continues to escalate at a rapid pace inundating medical facilities and creating substantial challenges globally. The risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in patients with cancer seems to be higher, especially as they are more likely to present with an immunocompromised condition, either from cancer itself or from the treatments they receive. A major consideration in the delivery of cancer care during the pandemic is to balance the risk of patient exposure and infection with the need to provide effective cancer treatment. Many aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 infection currently remain poorly characterized and even less is known about the course of infection in the context of a patient with cancer. As SARS-CoV-2 is highly contagious, the risk of infection directly affects the cancer patient being treated, other cancer patients in close proximity, and health care providers. Infection at any level for patients or providers can cause considerable disruption to even the most effective treatment plans. Lung cancer patients, especially those with reduced lung function and cardiopulmonary comorbidities are more likely to have increased risk and mortality from coronavirus disease 2019 as one of its common manifestations is as an acute respiratory illness. The purpose of this manuscript is to present a practical multidisciplinary and international overview to assist in treatment for lung cancer patients during this pandemic, with the caveat that evidence is lacking in many areas. It is expected that firmer recommendations can be developed as more evidence becomes available

Randomized Phase III Trial of Maintenance Bevacizumab With or Without Pemetrexed After First-Line Induction With Bevacizumab, Cisplatin, and Pemetrexed in Advanced Nonsquamous Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: AVAPERL (MO22089)

Purpose Maintenance therapy is associated with improved survival in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but few studies have compared active agents in this setting. AVAPERL evaluated the safety and efficacy of bevacizumab with or without pemetrexed as continuation maintenance treatment. Patients and Methods Patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC received first-line bevacizumab 7.5 mg/kg, cisplatin 75 mg/m(2), and pemetrexed 500 mg/m(2) once every 3 weeks for four cycles. Those achieving response or stable disease were randomly assigned at a ratio of 1: 1 to maintenance bevacizumab 7.5 mg/kg or bevacizumab 7.5 mg/kg plus pemetrexed 500 mg/m(2) once every 3 weeks until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS) after random assignment. Results In total, 376 patients received induction treatment, 71.9% achieved disease control, and 67.3% were randomly assigned to maintenance therapy, with 125 and 128 receiving single-agent bevacizumab and bevacizumab plus pemetrexed treatment, respectively. At a median follow-up of 8.1 months, PFS from random assignment was significantly improved in the bevacizumab plus pemetrexed arm (median, 3.7 v 7.4 months; hazard ratio, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.66; P = 3, and serious adverse events occurred more often with bevacizumab plus pemetrexed maintenance. No new safety signals were observed. Conclusion In an unselected population of patients with nonsquamous NSCLC who had achieved disease control with platinum-based chemotherapy plus bevacizumab, bevacizumab plus pemetrexed maintenance was associated with a significant PFS benefit compared with bevacizumab alone. The combination was well tolerated. (C) 2013 by American Society of Clinical Oncolog

Multicenter Phase II Study of Whole-Body and Intracranial Activity With Ceritinib in Patients With ALK-Rearranged Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Previously Treated With Chemotherapy and Crizotinib:Results From ASCEND-2

Purpose Phase I data (ASCEND-1) showed ceritinib efficacy in patients with ALK-rearranged non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), regardless of brain metastases status and with or without prior therapy with an inhibitor of the ALK protein. Data are presented from a phase II trial (ASCEND-2) in which ceritinib efficacy and safety were evaluated in patients who had ALK-rearranged NSCLC previously treated with at least one platinum-based chemotherapy and who had experienced progression during crizotinib treatment as their last prior therapy. Patients and Methods Patients with advanced ALK-rearranged NSCLC, including those with asymptomatic or neurologically stable baseline brain metastases, received oral ceritinib 750 mg/d. Whole-body and intracranial responses were investigator assessed (according to RECIST version 1.1). Patient-reported outcomes were evaluated with the Lung Cancer Symptom Scale and European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer surveys (the core-30 and the 13-item lung cancer-specific quality-of-life questionnaires). Results All 140 patients enrolled had received two or more previous treatment regimens, and all patients had received crizotinib. The median duration of exposure and the follow-up time with ceritinibwere 8.8 months (range, 0.1 to 19.4 months) and 11.3 months (range, 0.1 to 18.9 months), respectively. Investigator-assessed overall response rate was 38.6% (95% CI, 30.5% to 47.2%). Secondary end points, all investigator assessed, included disease control rate (77.1%; 95% CI, 69.3% to 83.8%), time to response (median, 1.8 months; range, 1.6 to 5.6 months), duration of response (median, 9.7 months; 95% CI, 7.1 to 11.1 months), and progression-free survival (median, 5.7 months; 95% CI, 5.4 to 7.6 months). Of 100 patients with baseline brain metastases, 20 had active target lesions at baseline; investigator-assessed intracranial overall response rate was 45.0% (95% CI, 23.1% to 68.5%). The most common adverse events (majority, grade 1 or 2) for all treated patients were nausea (81.4%), diarrhea (80.0%), and vomiting (62.9%). Patient-reported outcomes showed a trend toward improved symptom burden. The global quality-of-life score was maintained during treatment. Conclusion Consistent with its activity in ASCEND-1, ceritinib treatment provided clinically meaningful and durable responses with manageable tolerability in chemotherapy-and crizotinib-pretreated patients, including those with brain metastases. (C) 2016 by American Society of Clinical Oncolog

Integrated genomic approaches identify upregulation of SCRN1 as a novel mechanism associated with acquired resistance to erlotinib in PC9 cells harboring oncogenic EGFR mutation

Therapies targeting the tyrosine kinase activity of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) have been proven to be effective in treating a subset of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients harboring activating EGFR mutations. Inevitably these patients develop resistance to the EGFR-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Here, we performed integrated genomic analyses using an in vitro system to uncover alternative genomic mechanisms responsible for acquired resistance to EGFR-TKIs. Specifically, we identified 80 genes whose expression is significantly increased in the erlotinib-resistant clones. RNAi-based systematic synthetic lethal screening of these candidate genes revealed that suppression of one upregulated transcript, SCRN1, a secernin family member, restores sensitivity to erlotinib by enhancing inhibition of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Furthermore, immunohistochemical analysis revealed increased levels of SCRN1 in 5 of 11 lung tumor specimens from EGFR-TKIs resistant patients. Taken together, we propose that upregulation of SCRN1 is an additional mechanism associated with acquired resistance to EGFR-TKIs and that its suppression serves as a novel therapeutic strategy to overcome drug resistance in these patients.