Management of Treatment Resistance in Patients With Advanced Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor–Mutated Lung Cancer: Personalization, Parsimony, and Partnership

Abstract

The Oncology Grand Rounds series is designed to place original reports published in the Journal into clinical context. A case presentation is followed by a description of diagnostic and management challenges, a review of the relevant literature, and a summary of the authors’ suggested management approaches. The goal of this series is to help readers better understand how to apply the results of key studies, including those published in Journal of Clinical Oncology , to patients seen in their own clinical practice. Patients with epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR)–mutated advanced non–small-cell lung cancer represent a distinct subgroup of individuals who can experience initially tolerable and durable effects with first-line EGFR-directed tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Unfortunately, acquired treatment resistance and cancer progression within the CNS are inevitable during the disease course and present a challenging transition in the care continuum. Next-line therapies generally require combinations of drugs and afford nuanced differences in clinical outcomes relative to the treatment experience, toxicity profile, and quality of life. Therapeutic stratification and modulation thus require further personalization and partnership with patients to identify key clinical, molecular, and human-specific factors to best guide optimal care.