Role of immunotherapy and co-mutations on KRAS-mutant non-small cell lung cancer survival.

BACKGROUND

mutations reported in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represent a significant percentage of patients diagnosed with NSCLC. However, there still remains no therapeutic option designed to target KRAS. In an era with immunotherapy as a dominant treatment option in metastatic NSCLC, the role of immunotherapy in.

KRAS

mutated patients is not clear.

METHODS

Eligible patients diagnosed with NSCLC and found to have a mutation were identified in an institutional lung cancer database. Demographic, clinical, and molecular data was collected and analyzed.

RESULTS

A total of 60 patients were identified for this retrospective analysis. Majority of patients were Caucasian (73%), diagnosed with stage IV (70%) adenocarcinoma (87%), and had a codon 12 mutation (78%). Twenty percent of patients were treated with immunotherapy. Median overall survival was 28 months in the cohort and patients who received immunotherapy were found to have better survival versus those who did not (33 22 months, P=0.31). Furthermore, there was an association between high survival and patients who received immunotherapy (P=0.007).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with mutations have a unique co-mutation phenotype that requires further investigation. Immunotherapy seems to be an effective choice of treatment for KRAS positive patients in any treatment-line setting and yields better outcomes than conventional chemotherapy. The relationship between immunotherapy and mutations requires further studies to confirm survival advantage.