Readministration of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor in non-small cell lung cancer patients after initial failure, what affects its efficacy?

Abstract

Few therapeutic options are available for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after failure to primary epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs). Since TKI rechallenge is one of the most common salvage approaches in clinical practice, we sought to identify the independent factors that associated with 2nd progression progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Seventy-two consecutive EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients with TKI retreatment after initial failure were retrospectively analyzed in this study. Univariate survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to determine if EGFR-TKIs readministration is tolerable as well as efficacious for a certain group of patients.