Targeted therapy for advanced anaplastic lymphoma kinase (<I>ALK</I>)-rearranged non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

Targeted therapies directed at specific driver oncogenes have improved outcomes for individuals with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Approximately 5% of lung adenocarcinomas, the most common histologic subtype of NSCLC, harbour rearrangements in the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene leading to constitutive activity of the ALK kinase. Crizotinib was the first tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) demonstrated to be effective in advanced NSCLC. Next-generation ALK TKIs have since been developed including ceritinib, alectinib, brigatinib, ensartinib, and lorlatinib, and have been compared with crizotinib or chemotherapy in randomised controlled trials (RCTs). These ALK-targeted therapies are currently used in clinical practice and are endorsed in multiple clinical oncology guidelines.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of ALK inhibitors given as monotherapy to treat advanced ALK-rearranged NSCLC.

SEARCH METHODS

We conducted electronic searches in the Cochrane Lung Cancer Group Specialised Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, and Embase. We also searched conference proceedings from the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), and International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) World Conference on Lung Cancer, as well as the reference lists of retrieved articles. All searches were conducted from 2007 until 7 January 2021.

SELECTION CRITERIA

We included RCTs comparing ALK inhibitors with cytotoxic chemotherapy or another ALK inhibitor in individuals with incurable locally advanced or metastatic pathologically confirmed ALK-rearranged NSCLC.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Two review authors independently assessed studies for eligibility, extracted study characteristics and outcome data, and assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane risk of bias tool for each included study. We assessed the certainty of evidence using GRADE. Primary outcomes were progression-free survival (PFS) and adverse events (AE); secondary outcomes were overall survival (OS), OS at one year, overall response rate (ORR) by RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours) criteria, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We performed a meta-analysis for all outcomes, where appropriate, using the fixed-effect model. We reported hazard ratios (HR) for PFS, OS, and a composite HRQoL of life outcome (time to deterioration), and risk ratios (RR) for AE, ORR, and one-year OS. We presented 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) and used the I² statistic to investigate heterogeneity. We planned comparisons of 'ALK inhibitor versus chemotherapy' and 'next-generation ALK inhibitor versus crizotinib' with subgroup analysis by type of ALK inhibitor, line of treatment, and baseline central nervous system involvement.

MAIN RESULTS

Eleven studies (2874 participants) met our inclusion criteria: six studies compared an ALK inhibitor (crizotinib, ceritinib, and alectinib) to chemotherapy, and five studies compared a next-generation ALK inhibitor (alectinib, brigatinib, and lorlatinib) to crizotinib. We assessed the evidence for most outcomes as of moderate to high certainty. Most studies were at low risk for selection, attrition, and reporting bias; however, no RCTs were blinded, resulting in a high risk of performance and detection bias for outcomes reliant on subjective measurement. ALK inhibitor versus chemotherapy Treatment with ALK inhibitors resulted in a large increase in PFS compared to chemotherapy (HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.52, 6 RCTs, 1611 participants, high-certainty evidence). This was found regardless of line of treatment. ALK inhibitors may result in no difference in overall AE rate when compared to chemotherapy (RR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.03, 5 RCTs, 1404 participants, low-certainty evidence). ALK inhibitors slightly improved OS (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.97, 6 RCTs, 1611 participants, high-certainty evidence), despite most included studies having a significant number of participants crossing over from chemotherapy to receive an ALK inhibitor after the study period. ALK inhibitors likely increase ORR (RR 2.43, 95% CI 2.16 to 2.75, 6 RCTs, 1611 participants, moderate-certainty evidence) including in measurable baseline brain metastases (RR 4.88, 95% CI 2.18 to 10.95, 3 RCTs, 108 participants) when compared to chemotherapy. ALK inhibitors result in a large increase in the HRQoL measure, time to deterioration (HR 0.52, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.60, 5 RCTs, 1504 participants, high-certainty evidence) when compared to chemotherapy. Next-generation ALK inhibitor versus crizotinib Next-generation ALK inhibitors resulted in a large increase in PFS (HR 0.39, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.46, 5 RCTs, 1263 participants, high-certainty evidence), particularly in participants with baseline brain metastases. Next-generation ALK inhibitors likely result in no difference in overall AE (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.01, 5 RCTs, 1263 participants, moderate-certainty evidence) when compared to crizotinib. Next-generation ALK inhibitors likely increase OS (HR 0.71, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.90, 5 RCTs, 1263 participants, moderate-certainty evidence) and slightly increase ORR (RR 1.18, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.25, 5 RCTs, 1229 participants, moderate-certainty evidence) including a response in measurable brain metastases (RR 2.45, 95% CI 1.7 to 3.54, 4 RCTs, 138 participants) when compared to crizotinib. Studies comparing ALK inhibitors were conducted exclusively or partly in the first-line setting.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

Next-generation ALK inhibitors including alectinib, brigatinib, and lorlatinib are the preferred first systemic treatment for individuals with advanced ALK-rearranged NSCLC. Further trials are ongoing including investigation of first-line ensartinib. Next-generation inhibitors have not been compared to each other, and it is unknown which should be used first and what subsequent treatment sequence is optimal.

Possible involvement of interleukin-18 in the pathology of hepatobiliary adverse effects related to treatment with ceritinib

Background

Ceritinib demonstrated a statistically significant effect on the progression-free survival versus chemotherapy in patients with advanced anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as the first therapy or after previous treatment with crizotinib and one or two prior chemotherapy regimens in global phase 3 studies. However, some serious adverse effects related to ceritinib therapy were reported across these clinical studies. Among them, a grade 3 and 4 increase in hepatobiliary enzymes was one of the common adverse events related to treatment with ceritinib. However, the pathology remains unclear. Previously, increased Interleukin (IL)-18 was observed in both biliary duct disease and liver disease. Therefore, we hypothesized that IL-18 is involved in the pathology of hepatobiliary adverse effects related to treatment with ceritinib and evaluated the serum IL-18.

Case presentation

The patient was a 53-year-old Japanese woman that we previously reported as having severe hepatobiliary adverse effects related to ceritinib therapy. Laboratory data, CT and MRI were obtained at each time point. IL-18 was evaluated by ELISA method at each time point. Immunochemical staining of liver tissue was performed as a standard protocol using antibodies against IL-18. Our records showed that the levels of serum IL-18 increased from the early stage of hepatobiliary adverse effects related to the treatment with ceritinib and were became worse with an increase in hepatobiliary enzymes and the progression of imaging abnormalities in the bile duct. Furthermore, IL-18 positive cells were detected in the inflammatory sites around the interlobular bile duct of the liver tissue.

Conclusion

Our case report shows that the increase of serum IL-18 had a positive correlation with the progression of severe hepatobiliary adverse effects related to treatment with ceritinib and the involvement of IL-18 in the hepatobiliary inflammation by pathological evaluation. These results suggest that IL-18 could be a useful surrogate marker for the hepatobiliary toxicity of ceritinib. However, this is only one case report and further prospective observations will complement our data in the future.

Brain metastases in ALK-positive NSCLC - time to adjust current treatment algorithms

The progress in molecular biology has revolutionized systemic treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from conventional chemotherapy to a treatment stratified by histology and genetic aberrations. Tumors harboring a translocation of the anaplastic-lymphoma-kinase (ALK) gene constitute a distinct genetic and clinico-pathologic NSCLC subtype with patients with ALK-positive disease being at a higher risk for developing brain metastases. Due to the introduction of effective targeted therapy with ALK-inhibitors, today, patients with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC achieve high overall response rates and remain progression-free for long time intervals. Moreover, ALK-inhibitors seem to exhibit efficacy in the treatment of brain metastases. In the light of this, it needs to be discussed how treatment algorithms for managing patients with brain metastases should be modified. By integrating systemic ALK-inhibitor therapy, radiotherapy, in particular whole brain radiotherapy might be postponed deferring potential long-term impairment by neurocognitive deficits to a later time point in the course of the disease. An early treatment of asymptomatic brain metastases might offer patients a longer time without impairment of cerebral symptoms or radiotherapeutic interventions. Based on an updated extensive review of the literature this article provides an overview on the epidemiology and the treatment of patients’ brain metastases. It describes the specifics of ALK-positive disease and proposes an algorithm for the treatment of patients with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC and brain metastases.

Penetrating the evidence of EGFR and ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors for non-small cell lung cancer brain metastases

The brain is a common metastatic site in lung cancer. Approximately one-third of patients will develop brain metastases during the course of their disease. Median overall survival has been reported between 3 and 14.8 months in patients with brain metastases compared to other metastatic sites. In addition, the lifetime incidence of brain metastases is increasing due to prolonged survival seen in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients due to new systemic therapies and improved neuro-imaging techniques. Several targeted therapies-such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors targeting epidermal growth factor receptors and anaplastic lymphoma kinase-are active in NSCLC and have data to suggested possible effectiveness against brain metastases in these patients.

Treating brain metastases in non-small cell lung cancer patients: what have we learnt from pharmaceutical recent clinical trials?

INTRODUCTION

Brain metastases (BMs) develop in up to 40% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In many recent practice-changing clinical trials, patients with BM were included; however, only few trials reported intracranial efficacies in either post hoc or pre-planned analysis. Clinically meaningful intracranial efficacy data of novel agents have not been completely disclosed.

AREAS COVERED

The authors performed a systemic review of recent pharmaceutical clinical trials, mainly pivotal or practice-changing trials. Some of the prospective clinical trials focused on patients with NSCLC and BM. The authors collected and compared intracranial efficacy reports of chemotherapy, epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs), ALK inhibitors, and immune checkpoint inhibitors.

EXPERT OPINION

Many clinical trials, especially those on 'brain-active' EGFR-TKIs and ALK inhibitors, have robust reports of intracranial efficacies either as post hoc or pre-planned analysis. Physicians should interpret this data with caution and apply the results to patients accordingly. For the design of future clinical trials, enrolling patients with only BM, incorporating novel risk classifications, pre-planning intracranial efficacy endpoints, reporting prior local brain therapies, and applying novel response evaluation criteria are emerging trends in this area.

Brain Metastases in Oncogene-Addicted Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients: Incidence and Treatment

Brain metastases (BM) are common in non-small cell lung cancer patients including in molecularly selected populations, such as EGFR-mutant and ALK-rearranged tumors. They are associated with a reduced quality of life, and are commonly the first site of progression for patients receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). In this review, we summarize incidence of BM and intracranial efficacy with TKI agents according to oncogene driver mutations, focusing on important clinical issues, notably optimal first-line treatment in oncogene-addicted lung tumors with upfront BM (local therapies followed by TKI vs. TKI monotherapy). We also discuss the potential role of newly emerging late-generation TKIs as new standard treatment in oncogene-addicted lung cancer tumors compared with sequential strategies.

Real-life experience of ceritinib in crizotinib-pretreated ALK+ advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients

Here we report our experience of ceritinib in crizotinib-pretreated patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) positive (ALK+) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in a French temporary authorisation for use (TAU) study. The French TAU study included crizotinib-pretreated patients with advanced ALK+ or ROS proto-oncogene 1 positive (ROS1+) tumours. Patients received oral ceritinib (750 mg·day-1 as a starting dose) and best tumour response (as evaluated by the investigator) and safety were reported every 3 months. A total of 242 TAUs were granted from March 12, 2013 to August 05, 2015. Of the 242 patients, 228 had ALK+ NSCLC and 13 had ROS1+ NSCLC. The median age of ALK+ patients (n=214) was 58.5 years, 51.9% were female, 70.8% had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) of 0-1 and 50.0% had brain metastases. Of the 149 efficacy evaluable ALK+ NSCLC patients, 5.4% had a complete response (CR), 47.0% had a partial response (PR) and 22.8% had stable disease (SD). At September 05, 2015, the median duration of ceritinib treatment (n=182) was 3.9 months but 5.5 months for patients (n=71) with a follow-up of ≥12 months. Higher objective response rate (ORR) was observed for patients with ECOG PS 0 to 1 (55.0% versus 42.4%) and those receiving prior crizotinib for >5 months (51.6% versus 36.1%). Treatment-related adverse events (AEs) were reported in 118 of 208 patients (56.7%), the most common being diarrhoea (22.1%) and hepatic toxicity (19.7%). Ceritinib (750 mg·day-1) demonstrated efficacy similar efficacy to ASCEND-1, ASCEND-2 and phase 3 ASCEND-5 trials with manageable safety in crizotinib-pretreated patients with ALK+ NSCLC.

Assessment of drug-drug interaction potential between ceritinib and proton pump inhibitors in healthy subjects and in patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer

PURPOSE

The impact of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) on the pharmacokinetics (PK) and efficacy of ceritinib was evaluated.

METHODS

A healthy subject drug-drug interaction (DDI) study was conducted to assess the effect of esomeprazole on the PK of a single 750 mg dose of ceritinib. To further investigate the impact of PPIs on the PK and efficacy of ceritinib in ALK-positive cancer patients, two subgroup analyses were performed. Analysis 1 evaluated ceritinib steady-state trough concentration (C_trough,ss) and overall response rate (ORR) by concomitant use of PPIs in patients from the ASCEND-1, -2, and -3 studies; analysis 2 evaluated ceritinib single-dose and steady-state AUC_0-24h and C _max by concomitant PPI use in patients from ASCEND-1 using a definition of PPI usage similar to that used in the healthy subject study.

RESULTS

In the healthy subject study, co-administration of a single 750 mg dose of ceritinib with esomeprazole 40 mg for 6 days decreased ceritinib AUC_0-∞ by 76% and C _max by 79%. However, based on subgroup analysis 1, patients had similar C _trough,ss and ORR regardless of concomitant PPI usage. Based on analysis 2, co-administration of a single 750 mg ceritinib dose with PPIs for 6 days in patients suggested less effect on ceritinib exposure than that observed in healthy subjects as AUC_0-24h decreased by 30% and C _max decreased by 25%. No clinically meaningful effect on steady-state exposure was observed after daily dosing.

CONCLUSIONS

Long-term administration of ceritinib with PPIs does not adversely affect the PK and efficacy of ceritinib in ALK-positive cancer patients.

Optimizing treatment for patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive lung cancer

In the 9 years since the initial discovery of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangements in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), there has been tremendous progress, culminating in an ever-expanding repertoire of agents that have activity in this disease. This review article provides an overview of currently approved ALK inhibitors, other ALK inhibitors in development, and commonly described mechanisms of resistance to ALK inhibitors. We also discuss emerging controversies in treatment of patients with ALK-positive lung cancer, including the choice of first-line ALK inhibitor and the role of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in the treatment of central nervous system metastases.