Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate treatment outcomes and safety of afatinib in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung (LSCC) who progressed after chemotherapy and immunotherapy. We recruited patients both retrospectively and prospectively and collected the outcomes and safety data. Additionally, we performed next-generation sequencing using tumor tissue and/or plasma to explore potential molecular biomarkers. Altogether, 42 patients were included in the final analysis. The median number of prior treatments was three (range 1-8), and the median TTF was 2.1 months. Objective response rate and disease control rate were 16.2% and 59.5%, respectively, and median duration of response was 4.0 months among response evaluable patients (n = 37). Treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs, including diarrhea, stomatitis, and paronychia) occurred in 22 (52.3%) patients; however, most were grade 2 or lower, and only 5 cases were grade 3. TRAEs led to dose modification in 17 (40.5%) and discontinuation in 4 (9.5%) patients. The TTF in patients with ERBB2 mutations was significantly longer than that in patients without (6.8 vs. 2.1 months, p = 0.045). Our results highlight that afatinib is a reasonable treatment option in terms of effectiveness and safety, and ERBB2 mutation can be used as a predictive biomarker in clinical settings.