Patient case: 40-year-old female with thyroid cancer; genetic feature: BRAF

Clinical trial: Molecular Profiling and Targeted Therapy for Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Small Cell Lung Cancer, and Thymic Malignancies

Summary: Background:
  - The current standard of care for advanced lung cancer and cancers of the thymus consists primarily of chemotherapy treatment. The drugs used for chemotherapy depend on the classification of the cancer in different categories that are based on the appearance of the cancer in the microscope. Though this approach has been proved to be useful in some ways, the survival rates of individuals with lung cancer and cancers of the thymus are still very poor. Recent research has shown that several genetic abnormalities play an important role in the development and growth of lung cancer and cancers of the thymus, and that it is possible to improve treatment success rates with drugs that specifically target some of the abnormal genes. Researchers are interested in determining whether it is possible to analyze the genes of patients with lung cancer and cancers of the thymus in order to provide personalized treatment with drugs that target the specific gene abnormalities.
  Objectives:
  - To evaluate the effectiveness of genetic analysis in determining targeted therapy for individuals with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, and thymic cancer.
  Eligibility:
  - Individuals at least 18 years of age who have been diagnosed with either lung cancer or a cancer of the thymus that is not considered to be curable with the use of surgery or radiation therapy.
  Design:
  -  Participants will be screened with a full medical history and physical examination, blood and urine tests, and tumor imaging studies. Participants will have a tumor biopsy or provide previously collected tumor tissue for study.
  -  Based on the results of the tumor biopsy study, participants will be separated into different treatment groups:
  -  Participants with EGFR gene mutation will receive a drug called erlotinib, which inhibits a protein called EGFR that is thought to be a key factor in the development and progression of some cancers.
  -  Participants with KRAS, BRAF, HRAS, or NRAF gene mutations will receive a drug called AZD6244, which inhibits a protein called MEK that is thought to be a key factor in the development and progression of some cancers.
  -  Participants with PIK3CA, AKT, or PTEN gene mutations will receive a drug called MK-2206, which inhibits a protein called AKT that is thought to be a key factor in the development and progression of some cancers.
  -  Participants with KIT or PDGFRA gene mutations will receive a drug called sunitinib, which inhibits some proteins that are thought to be key factors in the development and progression of some cancers, including kidney cancer.
  -  Participants who have ERBB2 gene mutation or amplification will receive a drug called lapatinib, which inhibits some proteins that are thought to be key factors in the development and progression of some cancers, including breast cancer.
  -  Participants who do not have any of the genetic abnormalities described above will be offered different options for treatment, including standard of care chemotherapy or treatment with investigational agents in a different research protocol.
  -  After 6 weeks of treatment, participants will have imaging studies to evaluate the status of their cancer. Treatment will continue as long as participants tolerate the drugs and the disease does not progress.
  -  Participants who benefit from the first treatment but eventually develop resistance and progression of their cancer will be offered the chance to have a second tumor biopsy and undergo a different treatment for their cancer.

Detailed description: BACKGROUND:
  -  A better understanding of the genetic make-up of the individual tumor may offer potentially improved therapies. This approach may also give rapid access to response data in patients with sometimes rare genetic abnormalities.
  -  In addition, it will allow us to test targeted therapies in a select population of patients that is more likely to have a favorable response based on their molecular profile and the specific mechanism of action of the drug being tested.
  -  This approach will also speed up drug development and potentially approval, and rescue an otherwise ineffective drug candidate for the specific subgroup that can benefit.
  Primary Objectives:
  -  To determine the feasibility of the use of tumor s molecular profiling and targeted therapies in the treatment of advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and thymic malignancies.
  -  To estimate the response rate of molecular-profile directed treatments in NSCLC, SCLC and thymic malignancies patients.
  ELIGIBILITY:
  -  Patients with histologically confirmed advanced lung cancer or thymic malignancies for whom surgical resection with curative intent is not feasible.
  -  Patients must either have biopsiable disease and be willing to undergo biopsy for
  molecular profiling or have paraffin embedded tissue blocks suitable for molecular
  profiling analysis.
  -  Individuals are eligible for EGFR germline mutation testing if they have:
  -  a personal history of invasive lung cancer or one of the pre-invasive histologies
  associated with the development of lung cancer and more than two affected family
  DESIGN:
  -  All patients will have their tumors undergo molecular profiling. Based on these results and on other eligibility criteria, the patients will be offered enrollment into different targeted therapy arms.
  -  At the NCI site only, individuals eligible for EGFR germline mutation will undergo testing for germline mutations affecting the EGFR gene; if a mutation is detected, their first-degree relatives would be invited to undergo testing for the index germline mutation found in the proband and appropriate follow-up on trial.
  -  Effective with Amendment I, the participating site, OHSU, will discontinue new enrollments and data entry for existing patients on the NOS arm on this protocol in favor of the OHSU protocol L8639, Personalized Cancer Medicine Registry. The data from these patients will be included with the data from 11-C-0096 (8639) NCI patients at the time of publication. Any OHSU patients who are eligible for a treatment arm will continue to be enrolled and followed per protocol.

Eligibility: -  ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR INITIAL ENROLLMENT:
  -  Patients with histologically confirmed advanced NSCLC, SCLC and thymic malignancies for whom surgical resection or multimodality therapy with curative intent is not feasible. For patients with Stage III NSCLC, who can be encompassed by a radiation port, definitive XRT should have been performed first when possible.
  -  Individuals who meet the eligibility criteria for EGFR germline mutation testing but who do not have advanced cancer as defined in 3.1.1 may enroll for EGFR germline mutation testing only and will not be eligible for the treatment or NOS arms.
  -  Patients with advanced cancer must meet one of the following criteria (does not apply to firstdegree relatives or individuals with pre-invasive histology enrolling only for EGFR germline mutation testing):
  -  Patients must have biopsiable disease and be willing to undergo biopsy for molecular profiling
  OR
  -Patients must have enough and adequate archival material from a previous biopsy to perform molecular profiling analyses. The adequacy of the material provided will be determined by the principal investigator in conjunction with the laboratories performing the molecular profiling analyses
  OR
  -  Patients must have previously undergone a successful molecular profiling of their tumor with mutation analysis of the genes described in section 5.2, as part of this protocol (crossover patients) or other molecular profiling protocols such as the Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium protocol among others.
  -  Age greater than or equal to18 years.
  EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
  1. Patients who have had major surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy within 2 weeks prior to entering the study or those who have not recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than 2 weeks earlier.
  2. Patients may not be receiving any other investigational agents or other medications for the treatment of their malignancy.
  3. Patients with symptomatic brain metastases should be excluded from this clinical trial because of their poor prognosis and because they often develop progressive neurologic dysfunction that would confound the evaluation of neurologic and other adverse events. However, patients who have had treatment for their brain metastases and whose brain metastatic disease status has remained stable for at least 1 week after the end of brain radiation may be enrolled to undergo molecular profiling at the discretion of the principal investigator. In addition, brain metastatic disease should be stable for at least 4 weeks, before the patients can be enrolled in any of the experimental treatment arms.
  4. Patients with any condition (e.g., gastrointestinal tract disease resulting in an inability to take oral medication or a requirement for IV alimentation, prior surgical procedures affecting absorption, or active peptic ulcer disease) that impairs their ability to swallow and retain tablets are excluded.
  5. Any uncontrolled medical illness that precludes the patient from undergoing a biopsy for molecular profiling and / or receiving treatment under one of the experimental arms of the study should be excluded. These conditions include but are not limited to:
  -  Ongoing or uncontrolled, symptomatic congestive heart failure (Class III or IV as defined by the NYHA functional classification system (see Appendix D).
  -  Uncontrolled hypertension
  -  Unstable angina pectoris
  -  Cardiac arrhythmia
  -  Uncontrolled diabetes
  -  Uncontrolled psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements.
  6. Patients with QTc prolongation (defined as a QTc interval equal to or greater than 500 msec) or other significant ECG abnormalities are excluded.
  7. Caution should be used if patients are required to use a concomitant medication that can prolong the QT interval and efforts should be made to switch to a different medication before the patient begins treatment under an experimental arm. See Appendix E for a table of medications with the potential to prolong the QTc interval. A comprehensive list of agents with the potential to cause QTc prolongation can be found at: http://www.azcert.org/medical-pros/drug-lists/bycategory.cfm
  8. The eligibility of patients taking medications that are potent inducers or inhibitors of that enzyme will be determined following a review of their case by the Principal Investigator. (A list of potent CYP3A4 inducers or inhibitors can be found in Appendix F). Every effort should be made to switch patients taking such agents or substances to other medications before they begin treatment with one of the experimental drug included in this protocol, particularly patients with gliomas or brain metastases who are taking enzyme-inducing anticonvulsant agents. A comprehensive list of medications and substances known or with the potential to alter the pharmacokinetics of sunitinib through CYP3A4 is provided in Appendix F.
  9. Patients with tumor amenable to potentially curative therapy as assessed by the investigator.
  10. Pregnant women are excluded from this study because many of the FDA approved agents and investigational agents in this trial have the potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects. Because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with these agents, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated in this protocol. These potential risks may also apply to other agents used in this study.

Relevance to patient case: not relevant