Extraordinary and prolonged erlotinib-induced clinical response in a patient with EGFR wild-type squamous lung cancer in third-line therapy: a case report

Elisabetta Gambale; Consiglia Carella; Paolo Amerio; Fiamma Buttitta; Rosa Lucia Patea; Clara Natoli; Michele De Tursi

doi:10.2147/IMCRJ.S134944

Extraordinary and prolonged erlotinib-induced clinical response in a patient with EGFR wild-type squamous lung cancer in third-line therapy: a case report

Int Med Case Rep J. 2017 May 23:10:173-175. doi: 10.2147/IMCRJ.S134944. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Elisabetta Gambale¹, Consiglia Carella¹, Paolo Amerio², Fiamma Buttitta³, Rosa Lucia Patea⁴, Clara Natoli¹, Michele De Tursi¹

Affiliations

¹ Medical Oncology Unit, Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences.
² Department of Dermatology and Venereology, University G. d'Annunzio, Chieti.
³ Department of Medicine and Aging Sciences, University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti.
⁴ Department of Radiologic Sciences, University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.

Abstract

Several small molecules, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as gefitinib, erlotinib and afatinib, have been demonstrated to significantly improve clinical outcomes in patients with advanced EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but erlotinib activity in EGFR wild-type squamous carcinoma is still highly debated. Here, we describe a prolonged and unexpected clinical response to erlotinib in a male former heavy cigarette smoker with wild-type EGFR squamous-cell cancer.

Keywords: EGFR wild type; erlotinib; squamous NSCLC.

Publication types

Case Reports