Lung Cancer

A few weeks ago, Dr. Lecia Sequist, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), joined us for a live webinar we did in partnership with LUNGevity Foundation. Dr.

Recently, I described the rationale for targeting HER2 mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Most of our experience with HER2 targeted therapy comes from studies in breast cancer. Now, I'd like to introduce you to BRAF, another novel target in NSCLC that is a central component in cell signalling, growth, and division.

By now, most patients (and hopefully, all oncologists!) are familiar with the significance of EGFR mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The discovery of ALK mutations and the successful use of crizotinib in this setting has also been big news in the lung cancer world. I'd like to bring everyone up to date on two lesser known abnormalities that can occur in non-small cell lung cancer: HER2 and BRAF mutations.

In a terrific podcast done a year ago about molecular markers in lung cancer and moving beyond a "one size fits all approach", Dr.

A new article just coming out in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology by our friend Dr. Ross Camidge and colleagues from the University of Colorado suggests that patients who have an ALK rearrangement appear to often have a particularly long progression-free survival (PFS) with Alimta (pemetrexed).

Two weeks from now (March 9, 3 PM EST/noon PST), Dr. Lecia Sequist of Massachusetts General Hospital will lead a free online webinar that is a joint program between GRACE and LUNGevity, on the topic of "Acquired Resistance to Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs): What We Know Now, and How We’re Moving Forward", to be followed by an interactive Q&A session.

The short answer is no. Since the introduction of the targeted agents that inhibit the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), both the oral EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) like Iressa (gefitinib) or Tarceva (Erbitux), and the monoclonal antibody therapies against EGFR like Erbitux (cetuximab) have been identified as often having a rash as a leading side effect.

Today I'm going to veer into the realm of style in cancer management rather than focusing on hard evidence. Sadly, it's not a rare event to have cancer progress early despite a perfectly good initial therapy. I just saw a patient in my clinic who illustrates what I consider to be a very reasonable treatment idea that doesn't find its way into the textbook approaches for managing somewhat resistant cancers, but it's worth discussing the concept of upping the ante with subsequent treatment.

A year ago, almost to the day, we presented an excellent podcast by Dr. Ross Camidge at the University of Colorado, describing the very new and promising work on the Pfizer investigational agent crizotinib for the subset (4-5% of patients with NSCLC) who have an ALK rearrangement.

When I met my first lung cancer patient in medical school, I found it difficult to grasp the wording of the diagnosis non-small cell lung cancer (and its associated acronym, NSCLC). Why was the diagnosis named so specifically for what it is not, rather than what it is?