Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Genomic aberrations involving the erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2 gene (ERBB2) are driver oncogenes in approximately 2% of lung adenocarcinomas. However, the use of daily dosing of ERBB2 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs)-including afatinib-has been fraught with plasma concentrations that barely achieve preclinical model inhibition, significant patient-reported toxicities, and limited clinical activity. We hypothesized that alternative dosing strategies could improve tolerability and efficacy. METHODS: We profiled lung cancer cell lines against TKIs and retrospectively evaluated the toxicity of and response to pulse afatinib (280 mg once weekly) in lung cancers with ERBB2 mutations. RESULTS: An ERBB2 exon 20 insertion-mutated lung cancer cell line had a 50% inhibitory concentration in response to afatinib that was higher than the reported plasma concentration of afatinib, 40 mg daily. Three patients with advanced ERBB2-mutated lung adenocarcinomas were treated with off-label pulse afatinib. The 280-mg weekly dose was well tolerated with no reported rash and minimal diarrhea. One TKI-naive patient achieved a partial response for 5 months and another achieved stable disease for 11 months. CONCLUSIONS: Pulse afatinib at a weekly dosing scheme induced antitumor activity in ERBB2 exon 20 insertion-mutated lung adenocarcinomas. Future clinical trials of alternative dosing schemes of ERBB TKIs as monotherapy or in combination with other therapies are warranted for ERBB2-mutated tumors.