Characterization of 164 patients with NRAS mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

BACKGROUND

NRAS mutations are observed in less than 1% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Clinical data regarding this rare subset of lung cancer are scarce and response to systemic treatment such as chemotherapy or immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) has never been reported.

METHODS

All consecutive patients with an NRAS mutated NSCLC, diagnosed between August 2014 and November 2020 in 14 French centers, were included. Clinical and molecular data were collected and reviewed from medical records.

RESULTS

Out of the 164 included patients, 106 (64.6%) were men, 150 (91.5%) were current or former smokers, and 104 (63.4%) had stage IV NSCLC at diagnosis. The median age was 62 years, and the most frequent histology was adenocarcinoma (81.7%). NRAS activating mutations were mostly found in codon 61 (70%), while codon 12 and 13 alterations were observed in 16.5% and 4.9% of patients, respectively. Programmed death ligand-1 expression level <1%/1-49%/≥50% were respectively found in 30.8%/27.1%/42.1% of tumors. With a median follow-up of 12.5 months, median overall survival (OS) of stage IV patients was 15.3 months (95% CI 9.9-27.6). No significant difference in OS was found according to the type of mutation (codon 61 vs. other), HR = 1.12 (95% CI 0.65-1.95). Among stage IV patients treated with platinum-based doublet (n = 66), ICI (n = 48), or combination of both (n = 10), objective response rate, and median progression free survival were respectively 45% and 5.8 months, 35% and 6.9 months, 70% and 8.6 months.

CONCLUSION

NRAS mutated NSCLC are characterized by a high frequency of smoking history and codon 61 mutations. Further studies are needed to confirm the encouraging outcome of immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy.

MET variants with activating N-lobe mutations identified in hereditary papillary renal cell carcinomas still require ligand stimulation

In hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma (HPRCC), the MET receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) mutations recorded to date are located in the kinase domain and lead to constitutive MET activation. This contrasts with MET mutations recently identified in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which lead to exon 14 skipping and deletion of a regulatory domain: in this latter case, the mutated receptor still requires ligand stimulation. Sequencing of MET in samples from 158 HPRCC and 2808 NSCLC patients revealed ten uncharacterized mutations. Four of these, all found in HPRCC and leading to amino acid substitutions in the N-lobe of the MET kinase, proved able to induce cell transformation, further enhanced by HGF stimulation: His1086Leu, Ile1102Thr, Leu1130Ser, and Cis1125Gly. Similar to the variant resulting in MET exon14 skipping, the two N-lobe MET variants His1086Leu, Ile1102Thr further characterized were found to require stimulation by HGF in order to strongly activate downstream signaling pathways and epithelial cell motility. The Ile1102Thr mutation displayed also transforming potential, promoting tumor growth in a xenograft model. In addition, the N-lobe-mutated MET variants were found to trigger a common HGF-stimulation-dependent transcriptional program, consistent with an observed increase in cell motility and invasion. Altogether, this functional characterization revealed that N-lobe variants still require ligand stimulation, in contrast to other RTK variants. This suggests that HGF expression in the tumor microenvironment is important for tumor growth. The sensitivity of these variants to MET TKIs opens the way for use of targeted therapies for patients harboring the corresponding mutations.

MET exon 14 skipping mutation is a hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-dependent oncogenic driver in vitro and in humanised HGF knock-in mice

Exon skipping mutations of the MET receptor tyrosine kinase (METex14), increasingly reported in cancers, occur in 3-4% of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Only 50% of patients have a beneficial response to treatment with MET-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), underlying the need to understand the mechanism of METex14 oncogenicity and sensitivity to TKIs. Whether METex14 is a driver mutation and whether it requires hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) for its oncogenicity in a range of in vitro functions and in vivo has not been fully elucidated from previous preclinical models. Using CRISPR/Cas9, we developed a METex14/WT isogenic model in nontransformed human lung cells and report that the METex14 single alteration was sufficient to drive MET-dependent in vitro anchorage-independent survival and motility and in vivo tumorigenesis, sensitising tumours to MET-TKIs. However, we also show that human HGF (hHGF) is required, as demonstrated in vivo using a humanised HGF knock-in strain of mice and further detected in tumour cells of METex14 NSCLC patient samples. Our results also suggest that METex14 oncogenicity is not a consequence of an escape from degradation in our cell model. Thus, we developed a valuable model for preclinical studies and present results that have potential clinical implication.

Transforming properties of MET receptor exon 14 skipping can be recapitulated by loss of the CBL ubiquitin ligase binding site

MET is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is activated in many cancers through various mechanisms. MET exon 14 (Ex14) skipping occurs in 3% of nonsmall cell lung tumors. However, the contribution of the regulatory sites lost upon this skipping, which include a phosphorylated serine (S985) and a binding site for the E3 ubiquitin ligase CBL (Y1003), remains elusive. Sequencing of 2808 lung tumors revealed 71 mutations leading to MET exon 14 skipping and three mutations affecting Y1003 or S985. In addition, MET exon 14 skipping and MET Y1003F induced similar transcriptional programs, increased the activation of downstream signaling pathways, and increased cell mobility. Therefore, the MET Y1003F mutation is able to fully recapitulate responses induced by MET exon 14 skipping, suggesting that loss of the CBL binding site is the main contributor of cell transformation induced by MET Ex14 mutations.

Response to Capmatinib in a MET Fusion-positive Cholangiocarcinoma

Cholangiocarcinoma is the second most common liver cancer after hepatocellular carcinoma. In case of metastatic or unresectable disease, the recommended first-line treatment is gemcitabine-based doublet, most commonly gemcitabine and cisplatin. There is no standard treatment for further lines. MET fusions are rare alterations described in many cancers. The efficacy of specific MET inhibitors is poorly studied. We present the case of a patient with chemotherapy-refractory metastatic cholangiocarcinoma harboring a CAPZA-2-MET fusion along with MET amplification who dramatically responded to capmatinib, a specific MET tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

MET kinase mutations in lung cancer patients

e21014

Background: Although mutations in the kinase domain of MET are well described in papillary renal cell carcinoma, they are rare and poorly studied in lung cancer, but could constitute a new therapeutic target given the availability of potent MET inhibitors. The characteristics of patients with MET kinase mutation in lung cancer are still unknown. Our objective was to describe the demographic, clinical and biological characteristics of these patients, and analyze their survival. Methods: We conducted a multicenter retrospective study including patients with lung cancer harboring a MET kinase mutation. Patients who had already received treatment with a MET TKI before the MET kinase mutation was found were excluded. Results: We identified 37 patients with a MET kinase mutation. Among them, 2 had already received a MET inhibitor and in 8 cases, the data were not accessible. A total of 27 patients were included in the final analysis, including 17 males (63%) and only 2 (8%) never smokers. The median age was 64 (range 43-86). Most patients had adenocarcinoma (n = 25, 93%). 19 patients were diagnosed at an advanced stage. The main metastatic sites were brain (n = 8, 42%), bones (n = 7, 37%) and lungs (n = 5, 19%). PDL1 expression level was available for 21 patients, and was < 1%, 1-49% and ≥50% in 4 (19%), 5 (24%) and 12 (57%) patients respectively. MET kinase mutations involved exon 15, 16, 17, 18 or 19 in 6 (22%), 7 (26%), 7 (26%), 3 (11%) and 4 (15%) patients respectively. The 2 most common mutations were H1112Y (4 patients) and H1097R (3 patients). 18 patients (67%) had a concurrent alteration by NGS including TP53 mutations (n = 11, 41%), KRAS mutations (n = 6, 22%) and NRAS mutations (n = 3, 11%). Overall, co-alterations involving known driver oncogenes were detected in 13 patients (48%). 19 patients received a first-line systemic treatment for advanced disease. Median progression-free survival with chemotherapy and immunotherapy was 10.5 and 6.4 months, respectively (p = 0.55). Median overall survival was 12.2 months. No patient received a MET inhibitor. Conclusions: MET kinase mutations are not associated with specific clinical characteristics and frequently occur together with other oncogene mutations. These results suggest that these mutations may not be sufficient to drive carcinogenesis by themselves.

Abstract 3683: MET exon 14 skipping mutations in lung cancer: Screening, functional and clinical impact

Mutations affecting exon 14 splice sites of the gene encoding the MET receptor have been recently revealed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These mutations induce MET exon 14 skipping (METex14), leading to receptor activation through deletion of a regulatory domain. Importantly, these mutations represent a promising therapeutic opportunity since MET tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) are available. Nevertheless, these mutations raise several scientific and clinical questions. (i) Their functional consequences are still poorly understood,(ii) these mutations are highly heterogeneous which makes them difficult to detect, and (iii) efficacy of MET-TKI seems limited by largely unknown resistances. To address these issues, we first created by genome editing a panel of pulmonary cells expressing either METex14 or MET receptor mutated in each known active site of the regulatory domain. Comparison of signalling pathways, transcriptional landscapes and cellular responses revealed that METex14 activation is recapitulated by mutation of the CBL binding site involved in MET internalization, but provide also an unexpected resistance to apoptosis through abrogating its caspase cleavage. Second, in order to detect METex14 mutations in clinical routine practice, we developed an optimized targeted next generation sequencing panel covering the METex14 in addition to the usual targets. This panel revealed METex14 alterations in 2.2% NSCLC patients and presence of various concurrent alterations. Third, by further characterization of the concurrent alterations, we found high rate of PI3K pathway alterations in METex14 patients. In addition, MET-TKI treatment in 3 patients harboring these alterations had shown progressive disease, suggesting their involvement in resistance. Using a patient-derived cell line with primary resistance and cell lines in which MET or PI3K alterations were inserted, we confirmed involvement of PI3K activation in the resistance process, which was overcome with PI3K inhibitor. Overall, our integrated study reveals that METex14 mutations induce an original activation involving cooperation between regulatory mechanisms, but offering sensitivity to MET-TKI. Therefore, these mutations, now detectable in routine practice, are druggable by MET-TKI providing a novel therapeutic line for NSCLC, but have to face to innate resistance including PI3K alterations.

Citation Format: Marie Fernandes, Philippe Jamme, Sonia Paget, Angela Morabito, Frédéric Leprêtre, Martin Figeac, Clotilde Descarpentries, Fabienne Escande, Simon Baldacci, Anne Chotteau-Lelièvre, Luca Grumolato, Marie-Christine Copin, Zoulika Kherrouche, Alexis B. Cortot, David Tulasne. MET exon 14 skipping mutations in lung cancer: Screening, functional and clinical impact [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 3683.

Complete and prolonged response to anti-PD1 therapy in an ALK rearranged lung adenocarcinoma

OBJECTIVE

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have become a major treatment in advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, some patients do not benefit from ICI, especially those harboring an ALK rearrangement. Here, we report a case of prolonged complete tumor response to immunotherapy in an ALK-rearranged NSCLC patient.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We verify ALK expression and rearrangement on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor samples of the patient by Immunohistochemistry and Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization analysis. The patient provided written informed consent authorizing publication of clinical case.

RESULTS

We report the case of 48 years old man with a ALK-rearranged NSCLC. This patient displayed a complete response for 16 months under nivolumab therapy in third line setting after ceritinib and platin based chemotherapy.

CONCLUSION

This is the first case of complete and prolonged response to ICI in ALK rearranged NSCLC. This case supports the idea that some ALK rearranged NSCLC could durably benefit from immunotherapy.

High MET Overexpression Does Not Predict the presence of MET exon 14 Splice Mutations in NSCLC: Results From the IFCT PREDICT.amm study

INTRODUCTION

MET proto-oncogene (MET) exon 14 splice site (METex14) mutations were recently described in NSCLC and has been reported to correlate with efficacy of MET tyrosine kinase inhibitors. High diversity of these alterations makes them hard to detect by DNA sequencing in clinical practice. Because METex14 mutations induce increased stabilization of the MET receptor, it is anticipated that these mutations are associated with MET overexpression. We aim to determine whether NSCLC with high MET overexpression could define a subset of patients with a high rate of METex14 mutations.

METHODS

From The French Cooperative Thoracic Intergroup PREDICT.amm cohort of 843 consecutive patients with a treatment-naive advanced NSCLC who were eligible for a first-line therapy, 108 NSCLC samples with high MET overexpression defined by an immunochemistry score 3+ were tested for METex14 mutations using fragment length analysis combined with optimized targeted next-generation sequencing. MET copy number analysis was also derived from the sequencing data.

RESULTS

METex14 mutations were detected in two patients (2.2%) who also displayed a TP53 mutation and a PIK3CA mutation, respectively. An MET gene copy number increase was observed in seven additional patients (7.7%). Next-generation sequencing analysis revealed inactivating mutations in TP53 (52.7%) and PTEN (1.1%), and oncogenic mutations in KRAS (28.6%), EGFR (7.7%), PIK3CA (4.4%), BRAF (4.4%), NRAS (2.2%), GNAS (1.1%), and IDH1 (1.1%).

CONCLUSIONS

The rate of METex14 mutations in NSCLC with high MET overexpression was similar to that found in unselected NSCLC. Moreover, we observed a high frequency of driver alterations in other oncogenes. Consequently these findings do not support the use of MET immunohistochemistry as a surrogate marker for METex14 mutations.

Spatial heterogeneity of KRAS mutations in colorectal cancers in northern France

Background

Somatic mutations in the KRAS gene are the most common oncogenic mutations found in human cancers. However, no clinical features have been linked to KRAS mutations in colorectal cancer [CRC].

Purpose

In this study, we attempted to identify the potential geographical population clusters of KRAS mutations in CRC patients in northern France.

Patients and methods

All patients with CRC who were identified to have KRAS mutations between 2008 and 2014 at the Regional Molecular Biology Platform at Lille University Hospital were included. 2,486 patients underwent a KRAS status available, with 40.9% of CRC with KRAS mutations in northern France. We retrospectively collected demographic and geographic data from these patients. The proportions of KRAS mutation were smoothed to take into account the variability related to low frequencies and spatial autocorrelation. Geographical clusters were searched using spatial scan statistical models.

Results

A mutation at KRAS codon 12 or 13 was found in 1,018 patients [40.9%]. We report 5 clusters of over-incidence but only one elongated cluster that was statistically significant [Cluster 1; proportion of KRAS mutation among CRC: 0.4570; RR=1.29; P=0.0314]. We made an ecological study which did not highlight a significant association between KRAS mutations and the distance to the Closest Waste Incineration Plant, and between KRAS mutations and The French Ecological Deprivation Index but few socio-economic and environmental data were available.

Conclusion

There was a spatial heterogeneity and a greater frequency of KRAS mutations in some areas close to major highways and big cities in northern France. These data demand deeper epidemiological investigations to identify environmental factors such as air pollution as key factors in the occurrence of KRAS mutations.

Relevance of Detection of Mechanisms of Resistance to ALK Inhibitors in ALK-Rearranged NSCLC in Routine Practice

BACKGROUND

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have shown efficacy in the treatment of ALK-rearranged non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but the disease eventually progresses in all patients. In many cases, resistance to ALK TKIs arises through ALK mutations. Although clinical and biological data suggest variations in TKI efficacy according to the mechanism of resistance, ALK mutations are still rarely investigated in routine practice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We performed a retrospective multicentric study with an aim to determine the frequency and clinical relevance of ALK alterations detected using targeted next-generation sequencing in patients with advanced ALK-rearranged NSCLC after progression during an ALK TKI treatment. Data on clinical, pathological, and molecular characteristics and patient outcomes were collected.

RESULTS

We identified 23 patients with advanced ALK-rearranged NSCLC who, between January 2012 and May 2017, had undergone at least 1 repeat biopsy at progression during an ALK TKI treatment. A resistance mechanism was identified in 9 of the 23 patients (39%). The anomalies involved included 9 ALK mutations in 8 patients and one ALK amplification. The ALK mutation rate was 15% after failure of a first ALK TKI and 33% after failure of 2 ALK TKI treatments. Five of 7 patients who received a different ALK TKI after detection of an ALK mutation achieved an objective response. All of the patients who received a TKI presumed to act on the detected ALK mutant achieved disease control.

CONCLUSION

Targeted next-generation sequencing is suitable for detecting ALK resistance mutations in ALK-rearranged NSCLC patients in routine practice. It might help select the best treatment at the time of disease progression during treatment with an ALK TKI.

[MET exon 14 splicing sites mutations: A new therapeutic opportunity in lung cancer]

The mutations leading to MET exon 14 skipping represent a new class of molecular alterations described in various cancers. These alterations are observed in 2 to 3 % of cases of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Several cases of NSCLC carrying such alterations and achieving objective response to MET tyrosine kinase inhibitorshave recently been published. This review summarizes the molecular mechanisms responsible for MET exon 14 skipping as well as the consequences of the loss of this exon on receptor activity. We also describe the clinical characteristics of patients with METΔ14 mutations. Finally, we address the issues related to the detection of these mutations in lung cancer, and the need to anticipate resistance to MET inhibitors.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors induce down-regulation of c-Kit by targeting the ATP pocket

The stem cell factor receptor (SCF) c-Kit plays a pivotal role in regulating cell proliferation and survival in many cell types. In particular, c-Kit is required for early amplification of erythroid progenitors, while it must disappear from cell surface for the cell entering the final steps of maturation in an erythropoietin-dependent manner. We initially observed that imatinib (IM), an inhibitor targeting the tyrosine kinase activity of c-Kit concomitantly down-regulated the expression of c-Kit and accelerated the Epo-driven differentiation of erythroblasts in the absence of SCF. We investigated the mechanism by which IM or related masitinib (MA) induce c-Kit down-regulation in the human UT-7/Epo cell line. We found that the down-regulation of c-Kit in the presence of IM or MA was inhibited by a pre-incubation with methyl-β-cyclodextrin suggesting that c-Kit was internalized in the absence of ligand. By contrast to SCF, the internalization induced by TKI was independent of the E3 ubiquitin ligase c-Cbl. Furthermore, c-Kit was degraded through lysosomal, but not proteasomal pathway. In pulse-chase experiments, IM did not modulate c-Kit synthesis or maturation. Analysis of phosphotyrosine peptides in UT-7/Epo cells treated or not with IM show that IM did not modify overall tyrosine phosphorylation in these cells. Furthermore, we showed that a T670I mutation preventing the full access of IM to the ATP binding pocket, did not allow the internalization process in the presence of IM. Altogether these data show that TKI-induced internalization of c-Kit is linked to a modification of the integrity of ATP binding pocket.

Is Modification of Diet in Renal Disease formula similar to Cockcroft-Gault formula to assess renal function in elderly hospitalized patients treated with low-molecular-weight heparin?

BACKGROUND

Repeated administration of low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) to elderly patients with an impaired renal function may lead to an accumulation effect with an increased risk of bleeding. In this setting, Cockcroft-Gault (CG) is the most widely used formula for glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimation. In hospitalized patients over the age of 70, the six-variable Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) formula was compared with the CG formula to detect patients with renal impairment who are at higher risk of bleeding when treated with LMWH.

METHODS

We combined retrospective data from 366 patients aged 86.2 +/- 6.6 years, treated with LMWHs. CG and MDRD GFR estimates were compared using the Bland-Altman method and the agreement between the two formulae by the kappa coefficient.

RESULTS

The mean CG and MDRD estimated GFR were 45.9 +/- 21.9 mL/min and 75.6 +/- 32.6 mL/min/1.73 m(2), respectively, with a mean bias of 29.6 mL/min. The concordance between the formulae to classify patients into stages of kidney disease was very poor (weighted kappa = 0.17): 21.8% patients had severe renal function impairment with the CG formula versus 1.3% with the MDRD formula. In our population, the MDRD thresholds that would correspond to CG estimates of 30 mL/min and 60 mL/min were found at 63 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and 80 mL/min/1.73 m(2), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In elderly patients, GFR estimates using MDRD and CG formulae differ widely and identify different numbers of individuals with kidney disease. Prospective comparative studies are needed to validate these formulae and their different thresholds to better detect elderly patients at higher risk of bleeding when treated with LMWH.