Treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after it becomes resistant to chemotherapy has been the subject of intense scientific and clinical research. The study of targeted therapy, in which a drug or biological agent attaches only to a specific receptor on a malignant cell, led to the approval and release of the anilinoquinazolines gefitinib (Iressa) and erlotinib (Tarceva), for the treatment of patients with NSCLC who have failed or can no longer tolerate chemotherapy.
Now researchers a Harvard Medical School and the Case School of Medicine in Cleveland have just published a study showing that a patient with EGFR-mutant, gefitinib-responsive NSCLC who relapsed after two years of therapy with gefitinib developed a second point mutation, leading to gefitinib resistance.
The authors conclude that repeat biopsies of tumors may be necessary to monitor patients for the development of resistance when using novel targeted therapies – especially against mutations in the EGFR, since such mutations may require a change in therapy.
