COVID-19 and cancer registries: Learning from the first peak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic in 2020 has caused oncology teams around the world to adapt their practice in the aim of protecting patients. Early evidence from China indicated that patients with cancer, and particularly those who had recently received chemotherapy or surgery, were at increased risk of adverse outcomes following SARS-Cov-2 infection. Many registries of cancer patients infected with SARS-Cov-2 emerged during the first wave. We collate the evidence from these national and international studies and focus on the risk factors for patients with solid cancers and the contribution of systemic anti-cancer treatments (SACT-chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted and hormone therapy) to outcomes following SARS-Cov-2 infection. Patients with cancer infected with SARS-Cov-2 have a higher probability of death compared with patients without cancer. Common risk factors for mortality following COVID-19 include age, male sex, smoking history, number of comorbidities and poor performance status. Oncological features that may predict for worse outcomes include tumour stage, disease trajectory and lung cancer. Most studies did not identify an association between SACT and adverse outcomes. Recent data suggest that the timing of receipt of SACT may be associated with risk of mortality. Ongoing recruitment to these registries will enable us to provide evidence-based care

Top 20 EGFR+ NSCLC Clinical and Translational Science Papers That Shaped the 20 Years Since the Discovery of Activating EGFR Mutations in NSCLC. An Editor-in-Chief Expert Panel Consensus Survey.

Sai-Hong Ignatius Ou,1 Xiuning Le,2 Misako Nagasaka,1 Thanyanan Reungwetwattana,3 Myung-Ju Ahn,4 Darren WT Lim,5 Edgardo S Santos,6 Elaine Shum,7 Sally CM Lau,7 Jii Bum Lee,8 Antonio Calles,9 Fengying Wu,10 Gilberto Lopes,11 Virote Sriuranpong,12 Junko Tanizaki,13 Hidehito Horinouchi,14 Marina C Garassino,15 Sanjay Popat,16 Benjamin Besse,17 Rafael Rosell,18 Ross A Soo19 1University of California Irvine School of Medicine, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Orange, CA, USA; 2University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA; 3Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand; 4Department of Hematology and Oncology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; 5Duke-NUS School of medicine, National Cancer Center Singapore, Republic of Singapore; 6Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 33431, USA; 7NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center, NY, NY, USA; 8Yonsei Cancer Center Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; 9Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, Early Drug Development and Phase I Unit, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, 28007, Spain; 10Shanghai Chest hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 11Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami and the Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, 33136, USA; 12Chulalongkorn University, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand; 13Department of Medicine, Kindai University School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan; 14Department of Thoracic Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; 15Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology-Hematology, University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA; 16Royal Marsden Hospital, London, Imperial College, London, UK; 17Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus, Villejuif, France; Paris-Saclay University, Orsay, France; 18Department of Hematology-Oncology, National University Cancer Institute, National University Hospital Singapore, Republic of Singapore; 19IOR, Quirón-Dexeus University Institute; ICO, Catalan Institute of Oncology; IGTP, Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute, Barcelona, SpainCorrespondence: Sai-Hong Ignatius Ou, University of California School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, 200 South Manchester Avenue, Suite 400, Orange, CA, 92868, USA, Tel +1 714-456-5153, Fax +1 714-456-2242, Email [email protected]: The year 2024 is the 20th anniversary of the discovery of activating epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Since then, tremendous advances have been made in the treatment of NSCLC based on this discovery. Some of these studies have led to seismic changes in the concept of oncology research and spurred treatment advances beyond NSCLC, leading to a current true era of precision oncology for all solid tumors. We now routinely molecularly profile all tumor types and even plasma samples of patients with NSCLC for multiple actionable driver mutations, independent of patient clinical characteristics nor is profiling limited to the advanced incurable stage. We are increasingly monitoring treatment responses and detecting resistance to targeted therapy by using plasma genotyping. Furthermore, we are now profiling early-stage NSCLC for appropriate adjuvant targeted treatment leading to an eventual potential “cure” in early-stage EGFR+ NSCLC which have societal implication on implementing lung cancer screening in never-smokers as most EGFR+ NSCLC patients are never-smokers. All these advances were unfathomable in 2004 when the five papers that described “discoveries” of activating EGFR mutations (del19, L858R, exon 20 insertions, and “uncommon” mutations) were published. To commemorate this 20th anniversary, we assembled a global panel of thoracic medical oncology experts to select the top 20 papers (publications or congress presentation) from the 20 years since this seminal discovery with December 31, 2023 as the cutoff date for inclusion of papers to be voted on. Papers ranked 21 to 30 were considered “honorable mention” and also annotated. Our objective is that these 30 papers with their annotations about their impact and even all the ranked papers will serve as “syllabus” for the education of future thoracic oncology trainees. Finally, we mentioned potential practice-changing clinical trials to be reported. One of them, LAURA was published online on June 2, 2024 was not included in the list of papers to be voted on but will surely be highly ranked if this consensus survery is performed again on the 25th anniversay of the discovery EGFR mutations (i.e. top 25 papers on the 25 years since the discovery of activating EGFR mutations).Keywords: EGFR mutations, expert panel, top 20 papers, 20th anniversary, NSCL

Evaluation of safety and efficacy of tivantinib in the treatment of inoperable or recurrent non-small-cell lung cancer

Massimo Broggini,1 Marina Chiara Garassino,2 Giovanna Damia11Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", 2Division of Medical Oncology, Fondazione IRCCS National Cancer Institute, Milan, ItalyAbstract: Tivantinib is a selective, oral, non-ATP-competitive, small molecule inhibitor of the c-Met receptor, tyrosine kinase, which is implicated at different levels of tumor cell migration, invasion, proliferation, and metastasis. Tivantinib has shown antitumor activity in various human tumor cell lines and in xenograft models of human cancers, including non-small-cell lung cancer. Few therapeutic options are available at present for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, so there is a pressing need for new therapeutic strategies to improve response and survival. Amplification of Met has been reported in more than 20% of lung tumors that have acquired resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors, implying that treatment of these tumors with a c-Met inhibitor should overcome resistance. Tivantinib has shown interesting and promising results in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer and appears to be well tolerated, either alone or in combination with other drugs. An interesting additional feature is the ability of the drug to delay development of new metastasis, in agreement with the proposed role of Met in this particular setting.Keywords: non-small-cell lung cancer, Met inhibitors, tivantinib, biomarker