Emerging targeted therapies in non-small cell lung cancer

ABSTRACT

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in United States, accounting for more than one-fourth of the deaths annually. Although comparatively rare and relatively less studied, genetic abnormalities other than epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations, anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements, and Kirsten rat sarcoma (KRAS) mutations account for significant proportion of the driver mutations identified thus far. The targeted agents against B-rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma (BRAF) V600E mutation, MNNG-HOS transforming gene (MET) pathway, ROS1 rearrangement, rearranged during transfection (RET) rearrangement, and HER2 pathways offer promising therapeutic options. Recruiting patients with these rarer mutations to well-designed, large multicenter trials to further validate the use of targeted agents remains a challenge. The clinical data and ongoing trials with these agents are reviewed in this article.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-small cell lung cancer
• BRAF V600E
• MET pathway
• ROS1 rearrangement
• HER2 expression
• targeted therapy

Financial & competing interests disclosure

AK Ganti has received research support from Pfizer, Amgen, Newlink Genetics, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck Serono, Merrck, Janssen and has served as a consultant for Otsuka, Boehringer-Ingelheim, and Biodesix. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.