Clinical lasting response of crizotinib in ALK positive lung squamous cell carcinoma with brain metastasis
Keywords:
ALK, squamous cell carcinoma, brain metastases, crizotinibAbstract
Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene-rearrangement in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was first reported in 2007 (1). EML4-ALK oncogene fusion is the most common form and has been identified in 2-5% patients with NSCLC, especially adenocarcinoma (2-5). It has defined a molecular subgroup of NSCLC that is susceptible to targeted kinase inhibition. Crizotinib, a specific ALK inhibitor, has shown marked clinical response to ALK rearranged NSCLC (6, 7), but it has been reported its poor blood brain barrier penetration (8). How about the efficacy and safety of crizotinib in NSCLC with brain metastases? How to treat brain metastasis patients with ALK sensitive mutation? What could be the best therapeutic strategy, ALK inhibitor, radiotherapy, chemotherapy or combination? This case shows that second line of crizotinib is effective against advanced squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) with brain metastases carrying EML4-ALK oncogene fusion.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
OPEN ACCESS
All the articles of the European Journal of Oncology and Environmental Health are published with open access under the CC-BY Creative Commons attribution license (the current version is CC-BY, version 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This means that the author(s) retain copyright, but the content is free to download, distribute and adapt for commercial or non-commercial purposes, given appropriate attribution to the original article.
The articles in the previous edition of the Journal (European Journal of Oncology) are made available online with open access under the CC-BY Creative Commons attribution license (the current version is CC-BY, version 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Upon submission, author(s) grant the Journal the license to publish their original unpublished work within one year, and the non exclusive right to display, store, copy and reuse the content. The CC-BY Creative Commons attribution license enables anyone to use the publication freely, given appropriate attribution to the author(s) and citing the Journal as the original publisher. The CC-BY Creative Commons attribution license does not apply to third-party materials that display a copyright notice to prohibit copying. Unless the third-party content is also subject to a CC-BY Creative Commons attribution license, or an equally permissive license, the author(s) must comply with any third-party copyright notices.