The Effects of HER2 Alterations in EGFR Mutant Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

HER2 alteration (mutation and/or amplification) is associated with poor survival in NSCLC and can mediate resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

We retrospectively analyzed de-identified molecular information from 12,946 NSCLC samples that underwent next-generation sequencing (NGS) with Caris Life Sciences. The objectives were to determine the prevalence and type of HER2 alterations with and without EGFR as a co-mutation. Insurance claims were utilized to obtain outcomes data.

Three hundred and twenty-one patients (2.5%) had HER2 alteration: mutation in 197 patients and amplification in 134. Median age was 65 years and 62% were female. A total of 84% were adenocarcinoma. HER2 exon 20 insertion was most common (69%). A total of 1551 (12%) patients had EGFR mutations. Among samples with EGFR mutations, 24 (1.5%) had concurrent HER2 alteration (8 with HER2 mutation and 16 with amplification). Among 8 patients who had both EGFR and HER2 mutations, 3 had EGFR exon 19 deletions and exon 8 HER2 mutation (S310F). One-third of the patients (7/21) with HER2 extracellular domain (ECD) mutation had co-occurring EGFR mutations. All 7 were S310. Patients with concurrent EGFR mutation and HER2 amplification had longer median time on treatment with EGFR TKI(s) than those with EGFR mutation without HER2 amplification (HR 2.284, P =.004).

A minority of NSCLC samples with EGFR mutations had HER2 alterations. In patients with both mutations, exon 21 mutations for EGFR and exon 8 mutations for HER2 were common. It will be critical to continue to accumulate valuable clinical data for further real-world outcomes analysis.