DESTINY of Immunotherapy in Patients With HER2 Mutant Lung Cancer: Case Report

Lorenza Landi1, Francesca Fusco2, Enrico Melis3

  • 1Clinical Trial Unit, Phase 1 and Precision Medicine, IRCCS Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy.

PubMed

Immunotherapy has significantly transformed the landscape of non-oncogene-driven NSCLC. Multiple trials have reported that immunotherapy, either alone or in combination with chemotherapy, can induce pathologic complete responses-essentially tumor eradication-in non-oncogene-driven patients, at least in resectable stages. In contrast, tumors with specific molecular alterations, such as EGFR mutations or ALK rearrangements, are generally considered refractory to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Data on other lung cancer drivers, including HER2 mutations, are scarce and limited to retrospective series, raising the question of whether immunotherapy should be avoided in all oncogene-addicted lung cancers. Here, we present the case of a patient with advanced HER2 mutant NSCLC who achieved complete pathologic response to chemoimmunotherapy. Our observation suggests that not all driver mutations equally drive resistance to immunotherapy, and some molecular events, such as HER2 mutations, need additional investigations.

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