Precision medical treatment of non-adenocarcinoma NSCLC patients with EGFR mutation

Abstract

EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) treatment has been established as standard therapy for EGFR-mutated adenocarcinomas. In the studies which published prospective randomized trials comparing EGFR TKIs with chemotherapy, a very low percentage of EGFR-mutated non-adenocarcinomas was enrolled in clinical trials. The efficacy of TKIs treatment for EGFR-mutated non-adenocarcinomas and their relationship with clinicopathological characteristics remain debatable. The results of retrospective studies show that the frequency of EGFR mutation is lower in non-adenocarcinoma than that of adenocarcinoma and efficacy of TKIs treatment for non-adenocarcinoma is inferior to adenocarcinoma. Smoking status is significantly associated with the efficacy of TKIs treatment for EGFR-mutated non-adenocarcinomas. The EGFR mutation rate and efficacy of TKIs treatment in adenosquamous cell carcinoma are higher than those of squamous cell carcinoma or large cell lung carcinoma. It may be concluded that the incidence of EGFR mutations in patients with non-adenocarcinoma NSCLC from mainland China is not very low and it is reasonable that EGFR TKIs could be an option for the treatment of EGFR-mutated non-adenocarcinoma NSCLC, especially for patients with adenosquamous histology and non-smokers. It is necessary to conduct a large-sample prospective study to understand the clinicopathological characteristics of non-adenocarcinomas and to evaluate the efficacy of EGFR TKI treatment or/and chemotherapy for EGFR-mutated non-adenocarcinoma NSCLC.