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NF1 is a tumor suppressor gene that encodes the neurofibromin protein and negatively regulates Ras signaling. This study was aimed to investigate the molecular, clinical characteristics, and prognostic features of NF1 gene in EGFR mutant lung cancer patients.The next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to analyze the data from lung cancer patients in the Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute (GLCI) from June 2016 to December 2020.Somatic NF1 mutations were present in 4.2% (135/3220) of Chinese lung cancer patients. NF1 mutations where clearly enriched in older (p 0.001), male (p 0.001), and smoking (p 0.001) patients. Patients with NF1 mutations were more likely to have TP53 (p = 0.003), BRAF (p = 0.001) and RASA1 (p = 0.026) mutations and mutually exclusive with EGFR mutations (p = 0.006). TP53 mutation had worsen prognosis in cases of NF1 mutant (p = 0.026) or EGFR/NF1 co-mutant (p = 0.031) lung adenocarcinomas (LUAD) patients. There was no effect on overall survival (OS) in LUAD patients with and without NF1 mutations, even in LUAD driver-gene negative patients. NF1/EGFR co-mutation patients had a longer OS than a single mutation of either the EGFR gene (median OS: 47.7 m vs. 30.2 m, hazard ratio [95% CI], 0.47 [0.30-0.74], p = 0.004) or NF1 gene (47.7 m vs. 19.0 m, 0.44 [0.27-0.73], p = 0.003). Furthermore, NF1 mutations significantly prolonged OS in EGFR mutant/TP53 wild-type LUAD patients (106.5 m vs. 25.5 m, 0.28 [0.13-0.59], p = 0.003) but not in patients with EGFR/TP53 co-mutations (36.8 m vs. 30.2 m, 0.70 [0.39-1.26], p = 0.280).Our results indicated NF1 mutations served as a good prognostic factor in EGFR mutant/TP53 wild-type lung cancer patients in this single-center study. TP53 mutation was obviously enriched in NF1 mutant patients and had shorter OS.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is one of the most common driver gene mutations in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) monotherapy and EGFR-TKI combined with chemotherapy or anti-angiogenesis drugs have significantly prolonged the survival of patients with EGFR-mutant NSCLC. However, disease progression caused by acquired resistance to EGFR-TKIs is inevitable. And patients with EGFR exon 20ins showed limited efficacy to EGFR-TKIs.In this review, we initially evaluated the efficacy of existing treatments for EGFR-mutant NSCLC. Second, we reviewed the ongoing phase II and III clinical trials, provided the latest results, discussed the scientific rationale of these trials and the potential development issues.The application of EGFR-TKIs has greatly changed the therapeutic strategies for advanced and resected NSCLC with EGFR mutations, and the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate for advanced NSCLC was close to 40%. The current research direction for the treatment of patients with EGFR mutations focuses on the following three aspects: uncommon EGFR mutation subtypes, brain metastases, and EGFR TKI-based combination therapy. Future studies on EGFR-mutant NSCLC therapy will focus on overcoming EGFR-TKI-related resistance, preventing drug resistance in advance, and developing bispecific antibody drugs.

MET inhibitors have shown promising efficacy for MET-dysregulated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, quite a few patients cannot benefit from it due to the lack of powerful biomarkers. This study aims to explore the potential role of plasma proteomics-derived biomarkers for patients treated with MET inhibitors using mass spectrometry. We analyzed the plasma proteomics from patients with MET dysregulation (including MET amplification and MET overexpression) treated with MET inhibitors. Thirty-three MET-dysregulated NSCLC patients with longitudinal 89 plasma samples were included. We classified patients into the PD group and non-PD group based on clinical response. The baseline proteomic profiles of patients in the PD group were distinct from those in the non-PD group. Through protein screening, we found that a four-protein signature (MYH9, GNB1, ALOX12B, HSD17B4) could predict the efficacy of patients treated with MET inhibitors, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.93, better than conventional fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) or immunohistochemistry (IHC) tests. In addition, combining the four-protein signature with FISH or IHC test could also reach higher predictive performance. Further, the combined signature could predict progression-free survival for MET-dysregulated NSCLC (p < 0.001). We also validated the performance of the four-protein signature in another cohort of plasma using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In conclusion, the four plasma protein signature (MYH9, GNB1, ALOX12B, and HSD17B4 proteins) might play a substitutable or complementary role to conventional MET FISH or IHC tests. This exploration will help select patients who may benefit from MET inhibitors.

BackgroundMETamplification plays an important role in the development of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) either de novo or in resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine–kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) settings. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is the standard method forMETamplification. With more and more discoveries of oncogenic driver genes, next-generation sequencing (NGS) plays a significant role in precision oncology. Meanwhile, the role of NGS inMETamplification remains uncertain.MethodsForty patients diagnosed with advanced NSCLC were included. FISH and NGS were conducted prior to MET inhibitors treatment.METamplification by FISH was defined as a MET/CEP7 ratio of > 2.0 and/or copy number (CN) > 5.METamplification by NGS was defined as gene copy number (GCN) ≥ 5.ResultsThe concordance rate among FISH and NGS was 62.5% (25/40).METamplification identified by FISH showed the optimal predictive value. The partial response (PR) rate was 68.0% (17/25 withMETamplification) vs. 6.7% (1/15 withoutMETamplification); the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 5.4 months versus 1.0 months (P METamplification identified by NGS failed to distinguish significant clinical outcomes. The PR rate was 60.0% (6/10, withMETGCN ≥ 5) vs. 40.0% (12/30, withMETGCN ConclusionsMETamplification identified by FISH remains the optimal biomarker to identify suitable candidates for MET-TKI therapy. In comparison, amplification identified by NGS seems not as robust to be effective predictive biomarker. Further exploration is needed regarding the focal amplification by NGS in predicting the efficacy.

Background The KRAS mutation is the second most common genetic variant in Chinese non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. At the 2019th World Conference of Lung Cancer, the KRAS G12C-specific inhibitor AMG510 showed promising results in the phase I clinical trial. However, the frequency, clinical characteristics, and prognostic significance of the KRAS G12C mutation in Chinese NSCLC patients are rarely reported. Methods Next-generation sequencing was used to confirm the KRAS mutation status in 40,804 NSCLC patients from multiple centers (mCohort). Survival data were collected retrospectively from 1456 patients at one of the centers, the Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute (iCohort). Results In the mCohort, 3998 patients (9.8%) were confirmed to harbor a KRAS mutation, of whom 1179 (29.5%) had the G12C subtype. In the iCohort, 130 NSCLC patients (8.9%) had a KRAS mutation and 42 (32.3%) had the G12C subtype. The G12C subgroup included more male patients (85.2% vs 67.4%, P P = 0.02) than did the non-G12C subgroup. Both the KRAS mutation group and KRAS G12C mutation subgroup were associated with a shorter median overall survival (OS) than wildtype tumors (15.1 vs 26.7 months, hazard ratio [HR]KRAS = 1.50, P = 0.002; 18.3 vs 26.7 months, HRG12C = 1.66, P = 0.007). In Cox regression analysis, smoking (HR = 1.39, P = 0.05) and stage IV disease (HR = 2.72, P KRAS mutation (HR = 1.30, P = 0.07) and KRAS G12C mutation (HR = 1.47, P = 0.07) reached borderline significance. Conclusions In the largest sample used thus for, our study found that approximately 10% of Chinese NSCLC patients had KRAS mutations. Of these, nearly 30% harbored the KRAS G12C mutation subtype, which was most common in male smokers. The KRAS G12C mutation is a biomarker of poor prognosis in Chinese NSCLC patients, which could potentially be improved by G12C-specific inhibitors in the future. (296 words)