Combination of afatinib with cetuximab in patients with EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer resistant to EGFR inhibitors

Abstract

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have shown effectiveness for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with activating mutations in the EGFR gene. However, resistance to the EGFR TKIs develops mostly secondary to T790M mutation in exon 20. The use of afatinib associated with cetuximab represents a new possibility of therapy following progression on gefitinib or erlotinib. We present two patients who acquired resistance to first-generation TKI and who underwent combination treatment with afatinib plus cetuximab as third-line therapy. Both patients presented partial response, and the time duration of disease control was 8 months and 10 months. The combined use of afatinib plus cetuximab emerges as a new possibility for the treatment of patients with advanced NSCLC harboring mutated EGFR after progression on first-generation EGFR TKIs with consequently acquired resistance to TKIs. Further studies are necessary to consolidate the data.