KRAS was neither prognostic nor predictive of benefit for either docetaxel or erlotinib in patients receiving second-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a new study published online ahead of print in the journal Annals of Oncology has shown.

Because the prognostic and predictive significance of KRAS mutations in patients with advanced NSCLC, researchers sought to prospectively evaluate the prognostic and predictive role of KRAS mutations in patients with NSCLC treated with second-line docetaxel or erlotinib.

Researchers enrolled 218 patients with wild-type EGFR who received first-line platinum-based chemotherapy and randomly assigned them at progression to receive docetaxel or erlotinib.


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Results showed that 23% of patients had KRAS mutations. Researchers found that KRAS mutations did not negatively impact progression-free survival or overall survival (P=0.977 and 0.233, respectively), and the presence of a KRAS mutation did not influence treatment outcomes (OS:P=0.965; PFS: P=0.417). 

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The study also demonstrated that patients who received docetaxel experienced a longer survival than those who received erlotinib. This association was independent of KRAS mutation status.

The findings suggest that docetaxel is superior to erlotinib for second-line treatment of patients with wild-type EGFR advanced NSCLC, independent of KRAS mutation status.

Reference

  1. Rulli E, Marabese M, Torri V, et al. Value of KRAS as prognostic or predictive marker in NSCLC: results from the TAILOR trial. Ann Oncol. 2015. [epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdv318.