A Clinical Research of Ceritinib Treating Patients with ALK-Positive Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer with Brain Metastasis

Abstract

Saiqiong Cui, Xin Liu, Dan Li, Dafu Yang, Zhaoxia Dai

Objective: As a second-generation oral anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor, ceritinib was recommended as posterior line therapy in patients with crizotinib resistance or intolerance. While in the real world, the clinical efficacy and safety of ceritinib, 450mg/d, taken with a low-fat meal in crizotinib resistant patients, especially with brain metastases, are still to be further investigated.

Methods: This retrospective analysis was conducted on patients with ALK- positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between May 2017 and December 2020 in our hospital, who were crizotinib resistant or intolerant. The aim was to analyze the clinical efficacy and safety of ceritinib as posterior line therapy in patients, especially in those with brain metastases, and to further explore the efficacy against rare fusion of ALK and the option after ALK inhibitor resistance. RECIST (1.1) criteria were adopted, and for relevant statistical analysis, RStudio was used.

Results: Of the 13 cases treated with ceritinib, 8 were treated as second-line therapy, 5 as third-line or fourth-line treatment. Of the total, 12 had brain metastases, 3 had received brain radiotherapy previously, and 1 had received surgical treatment for brain metastases previously. There were 8 cases evaluated as partial remission (PR), 2 evaluated as stable disease (SD), and 3 unevaluable for the response. There were 1 case of PKNOX2-ALK fusion and 1 case of IGR-ALK fusion observed as rare ALK fusion, and intracranial lesions were evaluated as PR for both. There were 6 cases received subsequent targeted therapy after progression of ceritinib, including 5 with alectinib and 1 with ensartinib, all of which showed response. In 13 cases, by the terminal time of follow-up, median progression-free survival (PFS) was 7.4 m, disease control rate (DCR) was 76.92%, overall response rate (ORR) was 61.54%, and median overall survival (OS) was 25.4m. In 12 cases with brain metastasis, 9 were suitable for intracranial response evaluation, of which, 1 case achieved CR for intracranial lesions, 7 achieved PR and 1 SD was observed, ORR was 88.89%, and DCR was 100%. The adverse events rate of any grade was 91.67%, the common adverse events were diarrhea (46.15%), AST level increased (41.67%), ALT level increased (33.33%), increased GGT (33.33%), increased ALP (25.00%), nausea (16.67%), increased creatinine (16.67%). Other reported AEs were cough, vomiting, dizziness, arthralgia and fatigue, 1 case (8.33%) each.

Conclusion: Ceritinib 450mg taken with taken with low-fat meal showed good efficacy and safety in crizotinib resistant patients with central nervous system metastasis, and it is effective in some cases with rare fusion of ALK.

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