Metastatic NRG1-Fusion Lung Cancer Responding to Long-Term Afatinib
This lung cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Subtype
- Adenocarcinoma
- Biomarkers
- CD74-NRG1 fusion
- Sex
- Female
- Spread to
- lungs
- Treatment
- chemotherapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapy
- Outcome
- Responding Well
Treatment course, step by step
- She received cisplatin and pemetrexed, followed by maintenance pemetrexed.
- Later treatments included nivolumab, docetaxel with ramucirumab, and afatinib.
- Dose reductions helped manage side effects, and afatinib maintained a partial response for 27 months.
What happened, in summary
A 62-year-old woman who had never smoked was diagnosed in June 2015 with metastatic nonmucinous lung adenocarcinoma involving multiple lung sites and lymph nodes. She first completed 4 cycles of cisplatin and pemetrexed, followed by 11 cycles of pemetrexed maintenance. The best response was stable disease.
After progression, she received 3 cycles of nivolumab, followed by 2 cycles of docetaxel and ramucirumab. That combination was stopped because of severe malaise. A later nivolumab rechallenge was also stopped after the cancer progressed. Testing of a lung biopsy then identified a CD74-NRG1 fusion.
Afatinib started in December 2017 at 40 mg daily. Diarrhea and malaise led to several dose adjustments, including a reduction to 20 mg and later an increase to 30 mg. She achieved a partial response after 11 months. At the February 2020 follow-up, she had been taking afatinib for 27 months and the partial response was continuing.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by PMC / PubMed Central. Read the original in full
How we source and attribute stories Accuracy and limitations
Collections this story belongs to
- Metastatic Lung Cancer 25 stories
- Afatinib for Lung Cancer 37 stories
These are lay summaries of published cancer stories, for information only. No two cancers behave the same way, and nothing here predicts your own diagnosis or replaces advice from your oncology team. Read the full disclaimer