Management of Resistance to First-Line Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Therapy

Opinion statementA decade after the discovery of echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK) rearrangements in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), several inhibitors have gained regulatory approval, and their sequential use has deferred platinum-based chemotherapy to later lines of therapy. Nevertheless, although most ALK-driven tumors dramatically respond to ALK TKIs , all patients ultimately develop drug-resistant disease. Analysis of post-progression biopsy samples has provided invaluable insight into the mechanisms of resistance, now informing on subsequent therapeutic strategies. In particular, the identification of secondaryALK mutations, which are a common mechanism of resistance to both first-generation and to an even larger extent to second-generation ALK TKIs, may shape a personalized optimal treatment strategy beyond the current first-line choice. Alectinib has now become a preferred treatment option in the first line of therapy, and extrapolation of data obtained from post-progression samples after second-line next-generation ALK TKIs suggests that acquired resistance is likely to be mediated in more than half of patients byALK resistance mutations. Nevertheless, clinical and preclinical evidence suggests that multiple resistance mechanisms may co-exist at different levels in the same TKI-resistant patient. Newer ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) overcome some resistance mutations through higher exposure and po...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research