tarceva progression mutation to sclc - 1257054

funnymom
Posts:24

I'm on tarceva and I received biopsy results on some progression today. However, I was told that there is more testing going on because my nsclc might have mutated to a neuroendocrine sclc tumor. The oncologist said this is extremely rare and that the odds are with me that it is still nsclc with a different method of resistance. I am hoping that this is the case as he feels he can treat the resistance with radiation and keep me on the tarceva. I won't know however until Monday.

Do you know what percentage of tarceva resistance is due to a mutation to sclc? When it does mutate to sclc, does it tend to mutate to a neurendocrine tumor? I've seen statistics somewhere with the sclc data, but of course cannot find them now that I need them.

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Reply # - June 6, 2013, 06:50 PM

laya d.
Posts: 714

Hi funnymom:

I'm so sorry to read about the progression of your disease, but hopefully your docs will keep a tight handle on it.

In terms of your question (and while waiting for the docs to come Online and respond directly), I believe that some findings indicated that upon rebiopsy of patients with progression on Tarceva, about 15% of the biopsies showed a mutation to sclc. Here's a thread where this was discussed: http://cancergrace.org/topic/can-one-type-of-lung-cancer-ever-turn-in-t…

Laya

Reply # - June 6, 2013, 11:03 PM

Dr West
Posts: 4735

I actually just chaired an educational session at ASCO, the largest cancer conference of the year, on the subject of acquired resistance to targeted therapies in lung cancer. The incidence of SCLC on re-biopsies in the setting of acquired resistance ranges from 3 to 14% in various series that have looked at this. So not rare, but not expected either.

Good luck.

-Dr. West

Reply # - June 7, 2013, 05:05 AM

funnymom
Posts: 24

Thanks for the links - they were very helpful. Did a little more research and think I understand the issue better. I don't think they have necessarily looked at it and seen a structure consistent with sclc. I think that in their testing they are finding neuroendocrine markers which are suggestive of a possible mutation. But, in my research, I also found that 10-30% of nsclc has neuroendocrine markers. Hence, they are running more tests that should help them determine the type.

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