A Favorable Treatment Response of Erlotinib in Lung Adenocarcinoma with Concomitant Activating EGFR Mutation and ROS1 Rearrangement / 이화의대지

The rearrangement of c-ros oncogene 1 (ROS1) has been recently identified as an important molecular target in non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). ROS1 rearrangement and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation were mutually exclusive each other in previous studies, and the clinical implication of co-existence of the two genetic alterations has not been determined. We report a case of 46-year-old female never-smoker NSCLC patient whose tumor harbored ROS1 rearrangement and EGFR mutation concomitantly. She had undergone curative surgery for stage IIIA NSCLC, and the recurrence in left pleura and brain occurred at 2 years after the surgery. She received several lines of chemotherapy including docetaxel plus carboplatin, erlotinib, pemetrexed, and gemcitabine. Erlotinib therapy showed a favorable treatment response with progression-free survival of 9.5 months and partial response of tumor on radiologic evaluations. This case represents a successful erlotinib treatment in a NSCLC patient with concurrent ROS1 rearrangement and EGFR mutation.

Phase II study of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and vincristine (CAV) and etoposide plus cisplatin (EP) alternating chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy in small cell lung cancer

The development of drug resistance is the major limiting factor influencing the survival of patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC). We have thus examined the activity of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and vincristine (CAV) alternating with etoposide and cisplatin (EP) in 35 patients with SCLC. The treatment courses were alternated every 3 or 4 weeks. After induction chemotherapy, patients with limited disease (LD) received thoracic radiotherapy (5000 cGy), prophylactic cranial irradiation (3000 cGy) and maintenance chemotherapy and patients with extensive disease (ED) received maintenance chemotherapy only. In this group of 35 patients, 13 had limited disease (LD) and 22 had extensive disease (ED). After completion of the therapy, 100% of the patients with LD achieved complete plus partial remission (CR + PR) and 68% of the patients with ED achieved CR + PR. The median survival time was 66 weeks (15.3 months) in patients with LD and 44 weeks (10.2 months) in patients with ED. The over all survival for patients with LD was superior to that for patients with ED (p less than 0.05). Also, median response duration for patients with LD (35 wks) was longer than that for patients with ED (17 weeks) (p less than 0.05). The primary site was the most vulnerable site to relapse (18 patients). Toxicity was mild to moderate and acceptable, and there were no treatment-related deaths. These results suggest that the alternation of CAV and EP is effective treatment strategy in the management of SCLC. A randomized controlled study will be required to discriminate the actual effect of this alternating regimen.