MA 06.08 Lung Cancer Patients with Germline Mutation: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Genetic testing for alterations of oncogenic driver genes has become essential and standard in clinical practice. Germline mutations predisposing to lung cancer are rare, but there have been reports regarding germline mutations in EGFR, HER2, BRCA2, CDKN2A, BAP1, SFTPA2, and PARK2. Next generation sequencing is being introduced to clinical practice of lung cancer, enabling investigation of multiple oncogenic driver genes simultaneously. In addition, liquid biopsy, which analyzes cell free DNA in blood, increases the opportunity to detect germline mutations in lung cancer patients. We examined the frequency and characteristics of lung cancer patients with germline mutations. Between February 2012 and January 2017, 3,869 patients with a diagnosis of lung cancer were seen by Division of Medical Oncology in Ohio State University. Of these, seven were found to have germline mutations. The patient characteristics and treatment outcomes were retrospectively investigated. Table 1 shows characteristics and treatment outcomes of the seven lung cancer patients with germline mutations. Median age was 50 (range, 34-72). Three had BRCA2 germline mutations, two had germline TP53 mutations (of which one patient also had a PARK2 mutation), one had a BRCA1 mutation, and one had an EGFR mutation. Testing for other oncogenic drivers were done in five patients, and interestingly, four patients had oncogenic driver mutations. The frequency of detecting germline mutations in lung cancer patients has been increasing in recent years, but is often unrecognized by providers. In our series, one patient was found to have a germline mutation by Foundation ONE, and another was found to have a germline mutation by Foundation ACT. Introduction of next generation sequencing technology and liquid biopsies to clinical practice can raise the probability of detecting germline mutations in lung cancer patients. Clinicians should be alert to the potential existence and importance of germline mutations in their lung cancer patients.