Abstract
Because of the rapid response to crizotinib, patients with ALK-positive locally advanced disease may become resectable with the use of neoadjuvant crizotinib. A 41-year-old never-smoking man who presented with asthma attack was found to have a suspicious lesion on chest X-ray after. Pathological examination was consistent with ALK(+), the signet-ring cell adenocarcinoma. Surgery was not performed because of mediastinal invasion of the mass. After 4 weeks of crizotinib treatment, a major response was achieved and the tumor became completely cavitary. Short-term neoadjuvant therapy with crizotinib for 4 weeks might be a promising therapy in locally advanced ALK-positive NSCLC and might provide a chance for resectability.
References
Solomon B, Varella-Garcia M, Camidge DR (2009) ALK gene rearrangements: a new therapeutic target in a molecularly defined subset of non-small cell lung cancer. J Thorac Oncol 4:1450–1454
Solomon BJ, Mok T, Kim DW, Wu YL, Nakagawa K, Mekhail T et al (2014) First-line crizotinib versus chemotherapy in ALK-positive lung cancer. N Engl J Med 371:2167–2177
Shaw AT, Kim DW, Nakagawa K, Seto T, Crino L, Ahn MJ et al (2013) Crizotinib versus chemotherapy in advanced ALK-positive lung cancer. N Engl J Med 368:2385–2394
Scagliotti GV, Pastorino U, Vansteenkiste JF, Spaggiari L, Facciolo F, Orlowski FM et al (2012) Randomized phase III study of surgery alone or surgery plus preoperative cisplatin and gemcitabine in stages IB to IIIA non-small-cell lung cancer. J Clin Oncol 30:172–178
Pless M, Stupp R, Ris HB, Stahel RA, Weder W, Thierstein S, SAKK Lung Cancer Project Group et al (2015) Induction chemoradiation in stage IIIA/N2 non-small-cell lung cancer: a phase 3 randomised trial. Lancet 386:1049–1056
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
No conflict of interest for all authors.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kilickap, S., Onder, S., Dizdar, O. et al. Short-time use of crizotinib as neoadjuvant in ALK-positive non-small cell lung carcinoma can be a chance for resectability. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 83, 1195–1196 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-019-03810-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-019-03810-9