1. Academic Validation
  2. Efficacy of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR exon 19 insertions: clinical-genomic, preclinical analysis through LC-SCRUM-Asia (multi-institutional genomic screening registry)

Efficacy of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR exon 19 insertions: clinical-genomic, preclinical analysis through LC-SCRUM-Asia (multi-institutional genomic screening registry)

  • Lung Cancer. 2025 Apr:202:108479. doi: 10.1016/j.lungcan.2025.108479.
Yuji Uehara 1 Hiroki Izumi 2 Ikei S Kobayashi 3 Shingo Matsumoto 4 Yukio Hosomi 5 Takae Okuno 6 Jun Sugisaka 7 Naoto Takase 8 Kageaki Taima 9 Shinichi Sasaki 10 Shuhei Teranishi 11 Shingo Miyamoto 12 Masahide Mori 13 Chiho Nakashima 14 Shuichi Asano 15 Hajime Oi 4 Tetsuya Sakai 4 Yuji Shibata 4 Hibiki Udagawa 4 Eri Sugiyama 4 Kaname Nosaki 4 Shigeki Umemura 4 Yoshitaka Zenke 4 Kiyotaka Yoh 4 Sadakatsu Ikeda 16 Daniel B Costa 3 Susumu S Kobayashi 17 Koichi Goto 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Thoracic Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan; Department of Thoracic Oncology and Respiratory Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center, Komagome Hospital, Tokyo, Japan; Department of Precision Cancer Medicine, Center for Innovative Cancer Treatment, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 2 Department of Thoracic Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan. Electronic address: hiroizum@east.ncc.go.jp.
  • 3 Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
  • 4 Department of Thoracic Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan.
  • 5 Department of Thoracic Oncology and Respiratory Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center, Komagome Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 6 Division of Medical Oncology & Respiratory Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine, Izumo, Japan.
  • 7 Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Sendai Kousei Hospital, Sendai, Japan.
  • 8 Department of Medical Oncology, Takarazuka City Hospital, Takarazuka, Japan.
  • 9 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan.
  • 10 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Juntendo University Urayasu Hospital, Urayasu, Japan.
  • 11 Respiratory Disease Center, Yokohama City University Medical Center, Yokohama, Japan.
  • 12 Department of Medical Oncology, Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 13 Department of Thoracic Oncology, NHO Osaka Toneyama Medical Center, Toyonaka, Japan.
  • 14 Division of Hematology, Respiratory Medicine and Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
  • 15 Department of Respirology, Japan Community Health Care Organization Chukyo Hospital, Nagoya, Japan.
  • 16 Department of Precision Cancer Medicine, Center for Innovative Cancer Treatment, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 17 Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; Division of Translational Genomics, Exploratory Oncology Research and Clinical Trial Center, National Cancer Center, Kashiwa, Japan. Electronic address: skobayas@bidmc.harvard.edu.
Abstract

Background: EGFR exon 19 insertions (EGFRex19ins) are rare EGFR mutations. Their clinical-genomic characteristics and outcomes with EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) remain uncertain.

Methods: We evaluated the clinical-genomic characteristics and outcomes of EGFR-TKIs for EGFRex19ins in the multi-institutional prospective lung Cancer genomic screening project (LC-SCRUM-Asia). We also studied preclinical Ba/F3 models expressing EGFR-K745_E746insIPVAIK (Ba/F3-IPVAIK) to investigate their sensitivity to 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-generation, and EGFR exon 20 insertion-active TKIs.

Results: In LC-SCRUM-Asia, 16,204 NSCLC patients were enrolled from March 2015 to December 2023. EGFRex19ins were detected in 13 samples (0.1 % of NSCLC). The median age was 72 years (range, 38-80); most patients were female (77 %), had adenocarcinoma (92 %), and were never-smokers (62 %). Twelve patients (93 %) had EGFR-K745_E746insIPVAIK, while one (7 %) had EGFR-K745_E746insVPVAIK. The most frequent co-mutation was TP53 (62 %); no patients had Other driver alterations. Six patients (46 %) tested positive for EGFR exon 19 deletions with PCR-based Cobas EGFR test, likely due to cross-reactivity arising from sequence homology. Twelve patients received EGFR-TKIs; five (42 %) experienced partial response. In the preclinical study, Ba/F3-IPVAIK showed the highest sensitivity to 2nd-generation EGFR-TKIs compared to Other EGFR-TKIs. Structural studies supported these consistent results. When broken down by EGFR-TKI generations, response rates for 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-generation TKIs were 50 % (1/2), 80 % (4/5), and 0 % (0/5), respectively. The median PFS for 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-generation TKIs were 8.7 (95 % CI, 7.4-NR), 14.7 (95 % CI, 8.0-NR), and 4.4 (95 % CI, 3.4-NR) months, respectively.

Conclusion: Our preclinical, structural, and clinical findings indicate 2nd-generation EGFR-TKIs are more effective for EGFRex19ins compared to Other TKIs.

Keywords

Afatinib; EGFR; I740_K745dup; K745_E746insIPVAIK; Non-small cell lung cancer; Osimertinib.

Figures
Products