scholarly journals New Target Therapies in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Review of the Literature and Future Perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 3543
Author(s):  
Ramon Andrade de Mello ◽  
Nathália Moisés Neves ◽  
Hakaru Tadokoro ◽  
Giovanna Araújo Amaral ◽  
Pedro Castelo-Branco ◽  
...  

Introduction: Lung cancer (LC) is the most common neoplasm worldwide, and 85% of these tumors are classified as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). LC treatment was initially restricted to cytotoxic chemotherapy—platinum compounds associated with 3rd generation cytotoxic agents (paclitaxel, gemcitabine, pemetrexed) and, more recently, with monoclonal antibodies (bevacizumab, ramucirumab). Advancements in treatment are correlated with prolonged overall survival (OS). Current advances are focused on target therapies. Target agents: Anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy consists of 1st and 2nd generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs such as erlotinib, afatinib). In 60% of cases, resistance to these TKIs occurs due to T790M mutation in EGFR, which is overcome 3rd generation drugs (osimertinib). Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is the target for drugs such as crizotinib, alectinib, ceritinib. Programmed death 1 (PD-1) and its ligand serve as targets for immunotherapy agents such as pembrolizumab, nivolumab, atezolizumab. Discussion: Challenges in NSCLC treatment include resistance to 3rd generation TKIs, the high cost of ALK inhibitors, and the need for further research on new drugs.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Zaborowska-Szmit ◽  
Maciej Krzakowski ◽  
Dariusz M. Kowalski ◽  
Sebastian Szmit

Cardiovascular diseases may determine therapy outcomes of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The evidence for how iatrogenic cardiovascular complications contribute to ceasing anticancer treatment, decreasing the quality of life or even premature death, is unclear. Older patients and smokers are at risk of atherosclerosis and arterial thromboembolic events (TE), such as myocardial infarction or stroke. Venous TE can be observed in up to 15% of NSCLC patients, but the risk increases three to five times in ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase)-rearranged NSCLC. ALK inhibitors are associated with electrophysiological disorders. Cytotoxic agents and anti-VEGF inhibitors mainly cause vascular complications, including venous or arterial TE. Cardiac dysfunction and arrhythmias seem to be less frequent. Chemotherapy is often administered in two-drug regimens. Clinical events can be triggered by different mechanisms. Among epidermal growth factor inhibitors, erlotinib and gefitinib can lead to coronary artery events; however, afatinib and osimertinib can be associated with the development of heart failure. During anti-PD1/anti-PDL1 therapy, myocarditis is possible, which must be differentiated from acute coronary syndrome and heart failure. Awareness of all possible cardiovascular complications in NSCLC encourages vigilance in early diagnostics and treatment.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 804
Author(s):  
David König ◽  
Spasenija Savic Prince ◽  
Sacha I. Rothschild

Due to groundbreaking developments and continuous progress, the treatment of advanced and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has become an exciting, but increasingly challenging task. This applies, in particular, to the subgroup of NSCLC with oncogenic driver alterations. While the treatment of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-rearranged NSCLC with various tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) is well-established, new targets have been identified in the last few years and new TKIs introduced in clinical practice. Even for KRAS mutations, considered for a long time as an “un-targetable” alteration, promising new drugs are emerging. The detection and in-depth molecular analysis of resistance mechanisms has further fueled the development of new therapeutic strategies. The objective of this review is to give a comprehensive overview on the current landscape of targetable oncogenic alterations in NSCLC.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
Giorgio Scagliotti ◽  
Silvia Novello ◽  
◽  

Treatment for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is being guided increasingly by driver mutations and, routinely, tumors from patients with adenocarcinoma are screened for mutations in the kinase domain of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) as well as for other genomic abnormalities (i.e. anaplastic lymphoma kinase [ALK] and ROS1 translocations). Effective, well-tolerated treatment options that specifically target theEGFRT790M mutation (the “gatekeeper” residue) in patients with NSCLC remains an unmet need. Rociletinib is an oral, irreversible, potent, covalent inhibitor of the activatingEGFRmutations (del19 and L858R) and the T790M resistance mutation; it also spares wild-type EGFR. TIGER-X is the first of the TIGER trial series, which is a clinical development program for rociletinib in patients with mutantEGFRNSCLC. This phase I–II study is evaluating rociletinib in patients who have progressed following their first and only EGFR-directed tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy who have developed the T790M mutation and in later-line T790M positive patients who have progressed on their second or later TKI therapy or subsequent chemotherapy. In the ongoing TIGER-X study, rociletinib has shown encouraging activity in patients withEGFRmutant-positive NSCLC and is well tolerated. Future aims of the ongoing TIGER programme include to investigate rociletinib treatment in other lines of therapy, determine whether rociletinib treatment can lead to an improvement in overall survival (OS) and to explore the potential benefits of combining rociletinib with other anti-cancer agents such as anti-programmed cell death protein and programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 monoclonal antibodies, mitogen-activated protein kinase enzyme inhibitors, vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors, and c-Met inhibitors. Other aims include evaluating the outcome of progression-free survival associated with rociletinib treatment and determining the efficacy of rociletinib in patients with T790M negative status.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Pan ◽  
Chao Deng ◽  
Zhenhua Qiu ◽  
Chenghui Cao ◽  
Fang Wu

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is a validated molecular target for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has led to significantly improved survival benefits. However, the clinical benefits of targeting ALK using TKIs are limited due to the emergence of drug resistance. The landscape of resistance mechanisms and treatment decisions has become increasingly complex. Therefore, continued research into new drugs and combinatorial therapies is required to improve outcomes in NSCLC. In this review, we explore the resistance mechanisms of ALK TKIs in advanced NSCLC in order to provide a theoretical basis and research ideas for solving the problem of ALK drug resistance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 405-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Bearz ◽  
Massimiliano Berretta ◽  
Umberto Tirelli

Treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer has changed in the last two decades, with many new drugs, mostly target agents, included in the algorithm, improvement of progression free survival and overall survival, but also higher costs for health systems or health insurances. Herein, we analyze the clinical effectiveness of target therapies for non-small cell lung cancer, according to their clinically meaningful outcome criteria and their cost impact.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-10
Author(s):  
Adrien Costantini ◽  
Theodoros Katsikas ◽  
Clementine Bostantzoglou

Over the past decade, major breakthroughs in the understanding of lung cancer histology and mutational pathways have radically changed diagnosis and management. More specifically, in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), tumour characterisation has shifted from differentiating based solely on histology to characterisation that includes genetic profiling and mutational status of Epidermal Growth Factor (EGFR), Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK), c-ros oncogene 1 (ROS1) and BRAF. These genetic alterations can be targeted by specific drugs that result in improved progression-free survival, as well as higher response rates and are currently standard of care for NSCLC patients harbouring these mutations. In this a narrative, non-systematic review we aim to handpick through the extensive literature and critically present the ground-breaking studies that lead to the institution of tailored treatment options as the standard of care for the main targetable genetic alterations.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazilah Abdul Satar ◽  
Mohd Nazri Ismail ◽  
Badrul Hisham Yahaya

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a small subpopulation within a tumour. These cells possess stem cell-like properties but also initiate resistance to cytotoxic agents, which contributes to cancer relapse. Natural compounds such as curcumin that contain high amounts of polyphenols can have a chemosensitivity effect that sensitises CSCs to cytotoxic agents such as cisplatin. This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of curcumin as a chemo-sensitiser in CSCs subpopulation of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using the lung cancer adenocarcinoma human alveolar basal epithelial cells A549 and H2170. The ability of curcumin to sensitise lung CSCs to cisplatin was determined by evaluating stemness characteristics, including proliferation activity, colony formation, and spheroid formation of cells treated with curcumin alone, cisplatin alone, or the combination of both at 24, 48, and 72 h. The mRNA level of genes involved in stemness was analysed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to evaluate the effect of curcumin on the CSC niche. A combined treatment of A549 subpopulations with curcumin reduced cellular proliferation activity at all time points. Curcumin significantly (p < 0.001) suppressed colonies formation by 50% and shrank the spheroids in CSC subpopulations, indicating inhibition of their self-renewal capability. This effect also was manifested by the down-regulation of SOX2, NANOG, and KLF4. Curcumin also regulated the niche of CSCs by inhibiting chemoresistance proteins, aldehyde dehydrogenase, metastasis, angiogenesis, and proliferation of cancer-related proteins. These results show the potential of using curcumin as a therapeutic approach for targeting CSC subpopulations in non-small cell lung cancer.


Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Patricia Mondelo-Macía ◽  
Jorge García-González ◽  
Luis León-Mateos ◽  
Adrián Castillo-García ◽  
Rafael López-López ◽  
...  

Approximately 19% of all cancer-related deaths are due to lung cancer, which is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) affects approximately 15% of patients diagnosed with lung cancer. SCLC is characterized by aggressiveness; the majority of SCLC patients present with metastatic disease, and less than 5% of patients are alive at 5 years. The gold standard of SCLC treatment is platinum and etoposide-based chemotherapy; however, its effects are short. In recent years, treatment for SCLC has changed; new drugs have been approved, and new biomarkers are needed for treatment selection. Liquid biopsy is a non-invasive, rapid, repeated and alternative tool to the traditional tumor biopsy that could allow the most personalized medicine into the management of SCLC patients. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) are the most commonly used liquid biopsy biomarkers. Some studies have reported the prognostic factors of CTCs and cfDNA in SCLC patients, independent of the stage. In this review, we summarize the recent SCLC studies of CTCs, cfDNA and other liquid biopsy biomarkers, and we discuss the future utility of liquid biopsy in the clinical management of SCLC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Oulhen ◽  
Patrycja Pawlikowska ◽  
Tala Tayoun ◽  
Marianna Garonzi ◽  
Genny Buson ◽  
...  

AbstractGatekeeper mutations are identified in only 50% of the cases at resistance to Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are relevant tools to identify additional resistance mechanisms and can be sequenced at the single-cell level. Here, we provide in-depth investigation of copy number alteration (CNA) heterogeneity in phenotypically characterized CTCs at resistance to ALK-TKIs in ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer. Single CTC isolation and phenotyping were performed by DEPArray or fluorescence-activated cell sorting following enrichment and immunofluorescence staining (ALK/cytokeratins/CD45/Hoechst). CNA heterogeneity was evaluated in six ALK-rearranged patients harboring ≥ 10 CTCs/20 mL blood at resistance to 1st and 3rd ALK-TKIs and one presented gatekeeper mutations. Out of 82 CTCs isolated by FACS, 30 (37%) were ALK+/cytokeratins-, 46 (56%) ALK-/cytokeratins+ and 4 (5%) ALK+/cytokeratins+. Sequencing of 43 CTCs showed highly altered CNA profiles and high levels of chromosomal instability (CIN). Half of CTCs displayed a ploidy >2n and 32% experienced whole-genome doubling. Hierarchical clustering showed significant intra-patient and wide inter-patient CTC diversity. Classification of 121 oncogenic drivers revealed the predominant activation of cell cycle and DNA repair pathways and of RTK/RAS and PI3K to a lower frequency. CTCs showed wide CNA heterogeneity and elevated CIN at resistance to ALK-TKIs. The emergence of epithelial ALK-negative CTCs may drive resistance through activation of bypass signaling pathways, while ALK-rearranged CTCs showed epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition characteristics potentially contributing to ALK-TKI resistance. Comprehensive analysis of CTCs could be of great help to clinicians for precision medicine and resistance to ALK-targeted therapies.


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