Good Clinical Response to Erlotinib in a Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient Harboring Multiple Brain Metastases and a Double Active Somatic Epidermal Growth Factor Gene Mutation

Abstract

Recently, 2 small molecule kinase inhibitors (TKIs), targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), have proven effective in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. However, it is unknown whether the EGFR double activating mutation of L858R in exon 21 and the in-frame deletion in exon 19 is a predictor of the effectiveness of EGFR-TKIs. We report for the first time a case of non-small cell lung cancer with central nervous system metastases harboring a rare EGFR double activating mutation who showed a good clinical response to erlotinib, regardless of his poor performance status, as swallowing is not possible. Therefore, we suggest that erlotinib may become a therapeutic choice in cases of central nervous system metastases even with poor performance status.

Keywords

• Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor
• Erlotinib
• Squamous cell lung cancer
• Pharmacokinetics
• Pleural effusion