Comparison of Resistance Spectra after First and Second Line Osimertinib Treatment Detected by Liquid Biopsy

• Main Authors: Balázs Jóri, Stefanie Schatz, Len Kaller, Bettina Kah, Julia Roeper, Hayat O. Ramdani, Linda Diehl, Petra Hoffknecht, Christian Grohé, Frank Griesinger, Markus Tiemann, Lukas C. Heukamp, Markus Falk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Cancers
• Subjects: liquid biopsy; lung cancer; routine diagnostics; osimertinib resistance
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/12/2861

Since 2009, several first, second, and third generation <i>EGFR</i> tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have been approved for targeted treatment of <i>EGFR</i> mutated metastatic non-small lung cancer (NSCLC). A vast majority of patients is improving quickly on treatment; however, resistance is inevitable and typically occurs after one year for TKI of the first and second generation. Osimertinib, a third generation TKI, has recently been approved for first line treatment in the palliative setting and is expected to become approved for the adjuvant setting as well. Progression-free survival (PFS) under osimertinib is superior to its predecessors but its spectrum of resistance alterations appears significantly more diverse compared to first and second generation <i>EGFR</i> TKI. As resistance mechanisms to osimertinib are therapeutically targetable in some cases, it is important to comprehensively test for molecular alterations in the relapse scenario. Liquid biopsy may be advantageous over tissue analysis as it has the potential to represent tumor heterogeneity and clonal diversification. We have previously shown high concordance of hybrid capture (HC) based next generation sequencing (NGS) in liquid biopsy versus solid tumor biopsies. In this study, we now present real-word data from 56 patients with metastatic NSCLC that were tested by liquid biopsy at the time of disease progression on mostly second line treated osimertinib treatment. We present examples of single and multiple TKI resistance mechanisms, including mutations in multiple pathways, copy number changes and rare fusions of <i>RET</i>, <i>ALK</i>, <i>FGFR3</i> and <i>BRAF</i>. In addition, we present the added value of HC based NGS to reveal polyclonal resistance development at the DNA level encoding multiple <i>EGFR</i> C797S and <i>PIK3CA</i> mutations.