Treatments

*August 2019*  Science Immunology Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are a first-line therapy for rapidly killing tumors such as those associated with non–small cell lung cancer by blocking oncogenic receptor signaling, but tumor relapse often occurs. Here, we have observed that hypofractionated EGFR TKI treatment (HypoTKI)…

*July 2019* by Dr. C.H. Weaver M.D. for CancerConnect.  Tagrissio, Tarceva and other TKI therapy for EGFR + NSCLC continue to evolve and improve survival. Advances in cancer research have highlighted the importance of understanding the specific characteristics of each person’s cancer. These characteristics—which include not only the particular type of…

BiTE antibodies are showing promise as a potential new treatment option for those of us that have progressed on standard of care treatment. What exactly is a BiTE antibody? BiTE is short for "bi-specific T-cell engager," a class of artificial bi-specific monoclonal antibodies that are being investigated for use as…

The EGFR Resisters hosted Dr. Josh Bauml for an extremely informative Facebook Live presentation on "Next Generation Sequencing for EGFR Mutant Lung Cancer: How it Guides Treatment Today & Tomorrow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRVMj_AbVOs&feature=youtu.be

*June 2019*  Medscape.  The latest research indicates immunotherapy followed by osimertinib resulted in serious irAEs (severe immune related adverse events) in some advanced lung cancer patients. Medscape (3/20, Castellino, Subscription Publication) reports a study team “notes that serious iirAEs were seen when osimertinib was given after immunotherapy in six of 41…

*January 2019*  Lung Cancer.   This small study from Taiwan was performed to investigate the relationship between PD-L1 expression levels and resistance to EGFR-TKI medications in patients with treatment-naïve advanced EGFR mutant lung adenocarcinoma. (By treatment naïve, these patients had not received any other treatments first such as conventional chemo. By…

*March 2019*  Overview written by Donald Ox. This article deals with a case study of the latest clinical data of brigatinib + cetuximab combo that has stabilized a triple-mutant EGFR patient with concomitant EGFR-T790M and C797S mutations.  Brigatinib, the dual EGFR-ALK inhibitor, especially when used in combination of with anti-EGFR…

*March 2019*  This is an overview (written by Donald Ox) of the current EGFR TKIs and acquired resistance leading to the effectiveness of the afatinib + cetuximab combo treatment especially useful for T790M negative patients who developed acquired resistance to Iressa/Tarceva/Afatinib, as many in our group queried about their options other…

*March 2019* Currently available for research purposes only, the Signatera (RUO) is the first ctDNA (circulating tumor DNA) assay custom-built for treatment monitoring and minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment. The test is being developed by Natera and is not yet FDA approved.  It is currently being offered to patients across multiple…