I very much appreciate your opinion on the following:
I was diagnosed in February with poorly differentiated adeno, TTF1, asolated squamous cells p63. I have tumor on left upper lobe, a few lips nodes involved and bone mets.
I had 4 cycles of Carbo alimta avastin and it didn’t work for me at all. Progression with another lymph node and two more bone mets.
Then I had surgical biopsy and stereotactic radiation for all bone mets. Biopsy results show only L858R mutation.
So I am starting Tarceva ,but not sure if it will work for poorly differentiated tumor with squamous component ...?..
If it doesn’t work what could be the next option?
Probably immunotherapy would work better fo4 this type of tumor or combination of TKI and immuno drug.
My pd-l1 is negative, but I know that it is not indications of response to immunotherapy.
Could I have your thoughts please.
Many thanks
Irina
Reply # - June 27, 2018, 07:04 AM
Hi Irina,
Hi Irina,
I'm sorry to hear that your cancer did not respond to your first line chemotherapy. Given the activating EGFR mutation (L858R) that was detected, there is a good chance that at least the EGFR-mutated component of your cancer will respond well to Tarceva, and that regimen would be chosen by most oncologists in this situation. Tumor grade (differentiation) is only one factor in how well a cancer responds to treatment, and may be less important that the EGFR status. Also, if the squamous component is small, it may not have a significant impact on response to treatment.
As far as immunotherapy and PD-L1 expression, recent evidence tends to show that even patients with low expression (greater than 1% but less than 50%) can respond to immunotherapy agents. In the past, a threshold for high expression was set at a chosen percentage, and everyone below that percentage was considered to have a negative PD-L1 result. If that is how your testing was interpreted, you may want to inquire as to the percentage (if any) of PD-L1 expression found.
Good luck with Tarceva!
JimC
Forum moderator
Reply # - June 27, 2018, 08:37 AM
Many thanks for your reply,
Many thanks for your reply, Jim
Let’s hope Tarceva will work for me....
Reply # - June 28, 2018, 09:37 AM
Just a short note to add to
Just a short note to add to what Jim wrote,
as far as I know combining TKIs and immunotherapies at the same time has several studies that were discontinued early due to adverse side effects. That doesn't mean that a safe combination that's effective does not exist though and I would imagine there are clinical trials for that. it is something to keep an eye out for, after Tarceva.
Also EGFR+ patients are not thought to respond well to immunotherapies generally, but again it is probably a matter of finding the right one or the right combinations.
Squamous can also be EFGR+, although the chance is low it isn't miniscule. There is some research in using some of the TKIs in squamous lung cancer. Again, that would be something to consider as an option after Tarceva when also the research may have matured a bit too.
Reply # - June 28, 2018, 11:36 AM
Thank you so much for such
Thank you so much for such knowledgeable reply. I really hope that Tarceva will be working for me. I would feel more confident if I would have some plans B and C if Tarceva stop working......
Any ideas? I am not sure I can go another time for surgical biopsy. Two previous biopsies were unsuccessful because not enough sample.
Many thanks again for your time to answer my questions and all support.
Irina ❤️