Virtual Library

Start Your Search

S. Hagiwara



Author of

  • +

    P2.11 - Poster Session 2 - NSCLC Novel Therapies (ID 209)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Poster Session
    • Track: Medical Oncology
    • Presentations: 1
    • +

      P2.11-020 - Sorafenib in patients with RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer (ID 1717)

      09:30 - 09:30  |  Author(s): S. Hagiwara

      • Abstract

      Background
      RET fusions were recently identified in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and considered to be a druggable target of NSCLC. There are several small molecules which can potentially inhibit RET kinase activity. Among them, sorafenib, sunitinib and vandetanib are clinically available, and sorafenib is the most promising agent which showed potent anti-RET activity (the IC50 against RET is 0.0059-0.047 μM) in preclinical studies. However, it is difficult to evaluate the efficacy of this agent in RET-positive NSCLC in large clinical trials, because RET-positive NSCLC makes up only 1% to 2% of NSCLC cases. Therefore, we conducted a pilot study to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of sorafenib treatment in a small number of patients with RET fusion-positive NSCLC.

      Methods
      Eligible patients had advanced or recurrent NSCLC, were more than 20 years old, had undergone treatment with one or more previous chemotherapy regimens, had an ECOG performance status (PS) 0–2, adequate organ function and provided informed consent. The RET fusion gene was confirmed by a split FISH assay. Patients received 400 mg of sorafenib orally twice daily. The treatment was continued until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

      Results
      From March 2012 to April 2013, three patients were enrolled. The first patient was a 62-year-old female who had stage IV NSCLC and had received three prior chemotherapy regimens (pemetrexed with cisplatin, docetaxel and erlotinib) and two courses of palliative radiation (thorax and whole brain) before being enrolled this study. The second patient was a 38-year-old male who had recurrence after thoracic surgery and had received two prior chemotherapy regimens (pemetrexed with cisplatin and docetaxel) and whole brain radiation before enrolling this study. The third patient was a 75-year-old female who had recurrence after thoracic surgery and had received one prior chemotherapy regimen (Docetaxel). The pathological diagnoses were adenocarcinoma in two patients and NSCLC not otherwise specified in one patient. Their tumors did not demonstrate any EGFR mutations or ALK fusion. The RET partner genes were KIF5B in two patients and unknown in one patient. All three patients were treated with sorafenib at 400 mg orally twice daily. Unfortunately, there was no response. The best responses to sorafenib in the patients were PD, SD and SD. In the third patient, sorafenib treatment was continued for over seven weeks. The most common toxicities were hand-foot syndrome, hypertension and diarrhea. The third patient needed a dose reduction to 400 mg once daily due to grade 3 hand-foot syndrome.

      Conclusion
      Sorafenib seems to have some efficacy for the RET fusion-positive NSCLC, but no dramatic response was observed.