An oral drug effective in some cases of lung cancer

An oral drug effective in some cases of lung cancer

Each year more than 2,000 patients with lung cancer susceptibility have mutations in the gene EGFR receptor (epidermal growth factor), a predictive biomarker of efficacy which is the first step in personalizing treatment. This is one of the main conclusions of the study REASON , recently presented at the XIV Conference on Lung Cancer in Amsterdam, and has confirmed that, of all patients diagnosed each year in Spain lung cancer, about 12% have mutations in the EGFR gene. This study involved 40 hospitals throughout Spain and a total of 1,088 patients, of which 92.7% had sample available.

The objective of the study is to identify REASON all patients with the mutation in order to offer specific treatment. "These patients should be considered for treatment with an oral drug with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of EGFR, instead of receiving treatment with chemotherapy intravenous cytotoxic. This oral treatment has been shown to produce an increase of the control of the disease, reduced side effects and improved quality of life for the patient, "says Dr. Bartholomew Massutí, chief of Oncology, University General Hospital of Alicante .

This research is a pioneer in quantifying the frequency of EGFR mutations in Caucasian population in Spain. As Dr. Massutí explains, "so far we did not have extrapolated to the total population of patients with small cell lung cancer data. We needed to have a global vision and foresight to establish these mutations in a subset of patients with lung cancer have a prognosis and possibilities of different treatment to others. "

REASON The study has also confirmed the clinical characteristics associated with increased frequency of mutation, noting that is most common in people who have not smoked, in women, and adenocarcinomas. Research has also shown that the determination of the mutation is feasible in 90% of cases, "so it could become routine clinical practice, through different methods of potential use to analyze the fragments DNA in the different mutations that are located. Furthermore, the average time to dispose of the result does not exceed 10 working days, "says Dr. Bartholomew Massutí.

To perform the various methods of detecting EGFR mutation minimal tumor tissue or to extract the nucleic acids and sequence determination of mutations required cells. In fact, according to Dr. Massutí, "the causes of the inability to obtain an adequate gene result in lung cancer are related to the difficulty in obtaining biopsy specimens. Sometimes when you have a limited extract cell content. However, the new biological targets and the availability of specific treatments have increased awareness among specialists regarding the relevance of having enough material for diagnostic purposes. "

The survey results serve as reinforcement REASON to 1Dentify Platform , an initiative launched by AstraZeneca, which allows application for determination of EGFR mutations and, since its inception, has enabled the analysis of over 5,000 samples through a joint effort oncologists, pathologists and molecular biologists. Knowledge of the frequency of EGFR mutation in different clinicopathological subgroups supports making such determination not selected shape, so that no patient lose the opportunity to receive optimal treatment.

All samples are collected through 1Dentify Platform refers to five Service Centers: University Clinic of Navarra (Pamplona), the Hospital 12 de Octubre (Madrid), the University Hospital Complex of Santiago de Compostela (CHUS) Hospital Virgen del Rocío (Sevilla) and Pangaea (Barcelona). All these centers with complete infrastructure tumor remission for ease and speed, and they have a great advantage parts: very small amount of biopsy material can make the determination.