Key Biomarkers to Identify in Patients With NSCLC

Brandon Sheffield, MD, anatomic and molecular pathologist, physician lead of Research, William Osler Health System, explains the biomarkers that are important to identify before treating a patient who has been diagnosed with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Sheffield stated during a recent interview with Targeted Oncology™, that there are approved immunotherapies and targeted therapies available for many of the alterations found in NSCLC. There are also agents being developed in clinical trials that may be options for eligible patients. The therapies include immune checkpoint inhibitors, EGFR inhibitors, KRAS inhibitors, BRAF inhibitors, MET inhibitors, HER2-directed therapy, ALK inhibitors, RET inhibitors, NTRK inhibitors, and NRG1 inhibitors.

The recommendation is that oncologists test for all 11 biomarkers, especially for patients with the adenocarcinoma or NSCLC not other specified histologies.

Transcript:

For non–small cell lung cancer, the treatment is very much defined by biomarkers. To me, it's important to have all those biomarker results before you start treatment. For particular types of non–small cell lung cancer, such as adenocarcinoma or non–small cell lung carcinoma not otherwise specified, I would like our patients to be tested for PD-L1, EGFR, KRAS, BRAF, MET, HER2, ALK, ROS, RET, TRK, and NRG1 results before they get started on their first treatments. There are quite a few in there.