Abstract
Neoadjuvant therapy and adjuvant therapy for locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with ALK fusion mutation have not been thoroughly studied. Here, a stage IIIB NSCLC patient with EML4-ALK fusion mutation receiving immunotherapy plus chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment followed by lobectomy plus lymph node dissection is reported. The patient achieved a pathological complete response according to pathological evaluation. The patient received adjuvant crizotinib for 3 months and achieved a disease-free survival time of 36 months.
Plain language summary
A 50-year-old man was diagnosed with lung cancer. Surgery was not initially an option due to the seriousness of the disease. He received two cycles of treatment and the tumor became obviously smaller. Then, he received an operation. No tumor cells were discovered after detection. The patient had one gene that was not normal. Consequently, he was administered medicine for 3 months. The patient has had good health for at least 36 months.
Papers of special note have been highlighted as: • of interest
References
- 1. Global cancer statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J. Clin. 71(3), 209–249 (2021).
- 2. . Cancer statistics, 2020. CA Cancer J. Clin. 70(1), 7–30 (2020).
- 3. Neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy in resectable lung cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 386(21), 1973–1985 (2022). • On the basis of this trial, nivolumab in combination with chemotherapy has been approved in the USA as a neoadjuvant treatment for resectable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
- 4. Trends of postoperative radiotherapy for completely resected non-small cell lung cancer in China: a hospital-based multicenter 10-year (2005–2014) retrospective clinical epidemiological study. Front. Oncol. 9, 786 (2019).
- 5. The IASLC lung cancer staging project: validation of the proposals for revision of the T, N, and M descriptors and consequent stage groupings in the forthcoming (seventh) edition of the TNM classification of malignant tumours. J. Thorac. Oncol. 2(8), 694–705 (2007).
- 6. . New and emerging targeted treatments in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. Lancet 388(10048), 1012–1024 (2016).
- 7. . Progression and metastasis of lung cancer. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 35(1), 75–91 (2016).
- 8. Current status and future perspectives on neoadjuvant therapy in lung cancer. J. Thorac. Oncol. 13(12), 1818–1831 (2018).
- 9. Pathological response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in resectable non-small-cell lung cancers: proposal for the use of major pathological response as a surrogate endpoint. Lancet Oncol. 15(1), e42–e50 (2014).
- 10. Histopathologic response criteria predict /survival of patients with resected lung cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. J. Thorac. Oncol. 7(5), 825–832 (2012).
- 11. Surgery with or without preoperative paclitaxel and carboplatin in early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer: Southwest Oncology Group Trial S9900, an intergroup, randomized, phase III trial. J. Clin. Oncol. 28(11), 1843–1849 (2010).
- 12. Preoperative chemotherapy plus surgery versus surgery plus adjuvant chemotherapy versus surgery alone in early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer. J. Clin. Oncol. 28(19), 3138–3145 (2010).
- 13. Randomized phase III study of surgery alone or surgery plus preoperative cisplatin and gemcitabine in stages IB to IIIA non-small-cell lung cancer. J. Clin. Oncol. 30(2), 172–178 (2012).
- 14. Adaptive neoadjuvant chemotherapy guided by (18)F-FDG PET in resectable non-small cell lung cancers: the NEOSCAN trial. J. Thorac. Oncol. 11(4), 537–544 (2016).
- 15. Efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant pertuzumab and trastuzumab in women with locally advanced, inflammatory, or early HER2-positive breast cancer (NeoSphere): a randomised multicentre, open-label, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol. 13(1), 25–32 (2012).
- 16. . Perioperative systemic therapy for resectable non-small cell lung cancer. J. Natl Compr. Canc. Netw. 20(8), 953–961 (2022).
- 17. The IASLC lung cancer staging project: proposals for the revision of the T descriptors in the forthcoming (seventh) edition of the TNM classification for lung cancer. J. Thorac. Oncol. 2(7), 593–602 (2007).
- 18. . Recent update to the ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines on early and locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Ann. Oncol. 31(9), 1265–1266 (2020).
- 19. Management of stage III non-small-cell lung cancer: ASCO Guideline. J. Clin. Oncol. 40(12), 1356–1384 (2022).
- 20. Erlotinib versus gemcitabine plus cisplatin as neoadjuvant treatment of stage IIIA-N2 EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer: final overall survival analysis of the EMERGING-CTONG 1103 randomised phase II trial. Signal Transduct. Target. Ther. 8(1), 76 (2023). • This was the first randomized phase 2 study to compare neoadjuvant tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment with chemotherapy for stage IIIA-N2 EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients.
- 21. Optimizing the detection of lung cancer patients harboring anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangements potentially suitable for ALK inhibitor treatment. Clin. Cancer Res. 16(22), 5581–5590 (2010).
- 22. Anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitors in phase I and phase II clinical trials for non-small cell lung cancer. Expert Opin. Investig. Drugs 26(6), 713–722 (2017).
- 23. Clinical features and outcome of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer who harbor EML4-ALK. J. Clin. Oncol. 27(26), 4247–4253 (2009).
- 24. EML4-ALK fusion gene and efficacy of an ALK kinase inhibitor in lung cancer. Clin. Cancer Res. 14(13), 4275–4283 (2008).
- 25. Identification of the transforming EML4-ALK fusion gene in non-small-cell lung cancer. Nature 448(7153), 561–566 (2007).
- 26. Gefitinib versus vinorelbine plus cisplatin as adjuvant treatment for stage II-IIIA (N1–N2) EGFR-mutant NSCLC (ADJUVANT/CTONG1104): a randomised, open-label, phase 3 study. Lancet Oncol. 19(1), 139–148 (2018).
- 27. Erlotinib versus vinorelbine plus cisplatin as adjuvant therapy in Chinese patients with stage IIIA EGFR mutation-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (EVAN): a randomised, open-label, phase 2 trial. Lancet Respir. Med. 6(11), 863–873 (2018).
- 28. Neoadjuvant atezolizumab and chemotherapy in patients with resectable non-small-cell lung cancer: an open-label, multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol. 21(6), 786–795 (2020).
- 29. Induction immune-checkpoint inhibitors for resectable oncogene-mutant NSCLC: a multicenter pooled analysis. NPJ Precis. Oncol. 6(1), 66 (2022). • This study described the inspiring clinical efficacy of neoadjuvant immunotherapy in the largest cohort of patients with resectable NSCLC harboring oncogene mutations.
- 30. . Lung cancer - major changes in the American Joint Committee on Cancer eighth edition cancer staging manual. CA Cancer J. Clin. 67(2), 138–155 (2017).
- 31. New response evaluation criteria in solid tumours: Revised RECIST guideline (version 1.1). EUR. J. CANCER. 45(2), 228–247 (2009).
- 32. NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Non-small cell lung cancer, version 2.2023. J. Natl. Compr. Canc. Netw. 21(4), 340–350 (2023).
- 33. Predictors of long-term survival in patients with lung cancer included in the randomized Spanish Lung Cancer Group 0008 phase II trial using concomitant chemoradiation with docetaxel and carboplatin plus induction or consolidation chemotherapy. Clin. Lung Cancer 10(3), 180–186 (2009).
- 34. The IASLC lung cancer staging project: proposals for revision of the TNM stage groupings in the forthcoming (eighth) edition of the TNM classification for lung cancer. J. Thorac. Oncol. 11(1), 39–51 (2016).
- 35. . Cancer immunotherapy using checkpoint blockade. Science 359(6382), 1350–1355 (2018).
- 36. . Immune checkpoint blockade therapy for cancer: an overview of FDA-approved immune checkpoint inhibitors. Int. Immunopharmacol. 62, 29–39 (2018).
- 37. Durvalumab as third-line or later treatment for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (ATLANTIC): an open-label, single-arm, phase 2 study. Lancet Oncol. 19(4), 521–536 (2018).
- 38. Immune checkpoint inhibitors for patients with advanced lung cancer and oncogenic driver alterations: results from the IMMUNOTARGET registry. Ann. Oncol. 30(8), 1321–1328 (2019).
- 39. Checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer-a meta-analysis. J. Thorac. Oncol. 12(2), 403–407 (2017).
- 40. Abstract CT216: IMpower 150 final analysis: efficacy of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab and chemotherapy in first-line metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) across key subgroups. 80, CT216 (2020). • This was the first randomized phase 3 trial of a checkpoint inhibitor in combination with chemotherapy and anti-VEGF therapy to show an improvement in progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with sensitive EGFR mutations.
- 41. SAKK 16/14: durvalumab in addition to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage IIIA(N2) non-small-cell lung cancer-a multicenter single-arm phase II trial. J. Clin. Oncol. 39(26), 2872–2880 (2021).
- 42. Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab with chemotherapy for the treatment of stage IIB-IIIB resectable lung squamous cell carcinoma. J. Thorac. Dis. 13(3), 1760–1768 (2021).
- 43. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and nivolumab in resectable non-small-cell lung cancer (NADIM): an open-label, multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol. 21(11), 1413–1422 (2020).
- 44. Erlotinib versus gemcitabine plus cisplatin as neoadjuvant treatment of stage IIIA-N2 EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer (EMERGING-CTONG 1103): a randomized phase II study. J. Clin. Oncol. 37(25), 2235–2245 (2019).
- 45. EGFR genetic heterogeneity of nonsmall cell lung cancers contributing to acquired gefitinib resistance. Int. J. Cancer 123(11), 2480–2486 (2008).
- 46. Mixed responses to systemic therapy revealed potential genetic heterogeneity and poor survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Oncologist 22(1), 61–69 (2017).
- 47. Neoadjuvant crizotinib in resectable locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer with ALK rearrangement. J. Thorac. Oncol. 14(4), 726–731 (2019).
- 48. Phase II, open-label, single-arm, multicenter study to assess the activity and safety of alectinib as neoadjuvant treatment in surgically resectable stage III ALK-positive NSCLC: ALNEO trial. Clin. Lung Cancer 22(5), 473–477 (2021).
- 49. Cytoreductive antitumor activity of PF-2341066, a novel inhibitor of anaplastic lymphoma kinase and c-Met, in experimental models of anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. Mol. Cancer Ther. 6(12 Pt 1), 3314–3322 (2007).
- 50. First-line crizotinib versus chemotherapy in ALK-positive lung cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 371(23), 2167–2177 (2014).
- 51. . Crizotinib: a review of its use in the treatment of anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive, advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Drugs 73(18), 2031–2051 (2013).
- 52. Results of PROFILE 1029, a phase III comparison of first-line crizotinib versus chemotherapy in East Asian patients with ALK-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer. J. Thorac. Oncol. 13(10), 1539–1548 (2018).
- 53. Updated efficacy and safety data and impact of the EML4-ALK fusion variant on the efficacy of Alectinib in untreated ALK-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer in the global phase III ALEX study. J. Thorac. Oncol. 14(7), 1233–1243 (2019).
- 54. Post hoc analysis of lorlatinib intracranial efficacy and safety in patients with ALK-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer from the phase III CROWN study. J. Clin. Oncol. 40(31), 3593–3602 (2022).
- 55. Osimertinib in resected EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 383(18), 1711–1723 (2020).
- 56. . Rapid postoperative relapse in ALK-positive locally advanced NSCLC patient with complete pathological response to neoadjuvant crizotinib. J. Thorac. Oncol. 14(10), e234–e236 (2019).
- 57. Case report: neoadjuvant and adjuvant crizotinib targeted therapy in stage IIIA-N2 ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer. Front. Oncol. 11, 655856 (2021).