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Review
. 2014 Apr;3(2):84-8.
doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2218-6751.2014.02.06.

Targeted therapy in NSCLC driven by HER2 insertions

Solange Peters  1 , Stefan Zimmermann  1
Affiliations
Review

Targeted therapy in NSCLC driven by HER2 insertions

Solange Peters et al. Transl Lung Cancer Res. 2014 Apr.

Abstract

HER2 mutations, largely exon 20 in-frame insertions, have been described as an oncogenic driver alteration in 1% to 4% of NSCLC, exclusively in adenocarcinoma histology. The prognostic implication of these alterations is not known. Phase I and II trial data suggest that afatinib, neratinib and dacomitinib have some activity in this molecular subgroup. No comparative data, or any data regarding the activity of pertuzumab or trastuzumab-emtansine is available. HER2 deregulation either by protein overexpression or gene amplification, has little clinical relevance to date, as trials investigating trastuzumab activity merely suggest a benefit in the very small minority of patients whose tumor highly overexpresses HER2, a subpopulation that amounts to 2% to 6% of mostly adenocarcinomas.

Keywords: HER2 mutations; afatinib; dacomitinib; irreversible pan HER-receptor inhibitor; lung cancer.

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