Ulrich Gerigk

PURPOSE: MET is a potential therapeutic target in lung cancer and both MET tyrosine kinase inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies have entered clinical trials. MET signaling can be activated by various mechanisms, including gene amplification. In this study, we aimed to investigate MET amplification status in adeno- and squamous cell carcinomas of the lung. We propose clearly defined amplification scores and provide epidemiologic data on MET amplification in lung cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We evaluated the prevalence of increased MET gene copy numbers in 693 treatment-naïve cancers by FISH, defined clear cutoff criteria, and correlated FISH results to MET IHC. RESULTS: Two thirds (67%) of lung cancers do not have gains in MET gene copy numbers, whereas 3% show a clear-cut high-level amplification (MET/centromer7 ratio ≥2.0 or average gene copy number per nucleus ≥6.0 or ≥10% of tumor cells containing ≥15 MET copies). The remaining cases can be subdivided into intermediate- (6%) and low-level gains (24%). Importantly, MET amplifications occur at equal frequencies in squamous and adenocarcinomas without or with EGFR or KRAS mutations. CONCLUSION: MET amplification is not a mutually exclusive genetic event in therapy-naïve non-small cell lung cancer. Our data suggest that it might be useful to determine MET amplification (i) before EGFR inhibitor treatment to identify possible primary resistance to anti-EGFR treatment, and (ii) to select cases that harbor KRAS mutations additionally to MET amplification and, thus, may not benefit from MET inhibition. Furthermore, our study provides comprehensive epidemiologic data for upcoming trials with various MET inhibitors.

Abstract Purpose: KEAP1 and NFE2L2 mutations are associated with impaired prognosis in a variety of cancers and with squamous cell carcinoma formation in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, little is known about frequency, histology dependence, molecular and clinical presentation as well as response to systemic treatment in NSCLC. Experimental Design: Tumor tissue of 1,391 patients with NSCLC was analyzed using next-generation sequencing (NGS). Clinical and pathologic characteristics, survival, and treatment outcome of patients with KEAP1 or NFE2L2 mutations were assessed. Results: KEAP1 mutations occurred with a frequency of 11.3% (n = 157) and NFE2L2 mutations with a frequency of 3.5% (n = 49) in NSCLC patients. In the vast majority of patients, both mutations did not occur simultaneously. KEAP1 mutations were found mainly in adenocarcinoma (AD; 72%), while NFE2L2 mutations were more common in squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC; 59%). KEAP1 mutations were spread over the whole protein, whereas NFE2L2 mutations were clustered in specific hotspot regions. In over 80% of the patients both mutations co-occurred with other cancer-related mutations, among them also targetable aberrations like activating EGFR mutations or MET amplification. Both patient groups showed different patterns of metastases, stage distribution and performance state. No patient with KEAP1 mutation had a response on systemic treatment in first-, second-, or third-line setting. Of NFE2L2-mutated patients, none responded to second- or third-line therapy. Conclusions: KEAP1- and NFE2L2-mutated NSCLC patients represent a highly heterogeneous patient cohort. Both are associated with different histologies and usually are found together with other cancer-related, partly targetable, genetic aberrations. In addition, both markers seem to be predictive for chemotherapy resistance. Clin Cancer Res; 24(13); 3087–96. ©2018 AACR.

// Matthias Scheffler 1,2,* , Marc Bos 1,2,* , Masyar Gardizi 1,2,* , Katharina König 1,3,* , Sebastian Michels 1,2 , Jana Fassunke 1,3 , Carina Heydt 1,3 , Helen Künstlinger 1,3 , Michaela Ihle 1,3 , Frank Ueckeroth 1,3 , Kerstin Albus 1,3 , Monika Serke 4 , Ulrich Gerigk 5 , Wolfgang Schulte 5 , Karin Töpelt 1,2 , Lucia Nogova 1,2 , Thomas Zander 1,6 , Walburga Engel-Riedel 7 , Erich Stoelben 7 , Yon-Dschun Ko 8 , Winfried Randerath 9 , Britta Kaminsky 9 , Jens Panse 10 , Carolin Becker 10 , Martin Hellmich 11 , Sabine Merkelbach-Bruse 1,3 , Lukas C. Heukamp 1,3,* , Reinhard Büttner 1,3,* and Jürgen Wolf 1,2,* 1 Center for Integrated Oncology Köln Bonn, Cologne, Germany 2 Lung Cancer Group Cologne, Department I for Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany 3 Institute of Pathology, University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany 4 Department for Pulmonology and Thoracic Oncology, Lung Clinic Hemer, Hemer, Germany 5 Clinic for Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Care, Malteser Hospital, Bonn, Germany 6 Gastrointestinal Cancer Group Cologne, Department I for Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany 7 Lung Clinic Merheim, Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany 8 Johanniter Hospital, Evangelical Clinics of Bonn, Bonn, Germany 9 Clinic for Pneumology and Allergology Center for Sleep Medicine and Respiratory Care, Bethanien Hospital, Solingen, Germany 10 Department of Medicine IV, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany 11 Institute of Medical Statistics, Informatics, and Epidemiology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence: Jürgen Wolf, email: // Keywords : Non-small cell lung cancer, PIK3CA, mutation, lung cancer, PI3K Received : October 22, 2014 Accepted : November 25, 2014 Published : November 26, 2014 Abstract Background: Somatic mutations of the PIK3CA gene have been described in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but limited data is available on their biological relevance. This study was performed to characterize PIK3CA -mutated NSCLC clinically and genetically. Patients and methods: Tumor tissue collected consecutively from 1144 NSCLC patients within a molecular screening network between March 2010 and March 2012 was analyzed for PIK3CA mutations using dideoxy-sequencing and next-generation sequencing (NGS). Clinical, pathological, and genetic characteristics of PIK3CA -mutated patients are described and compared with a control group of PIK3CA -wildtype patients. Results: Among the total cohort of 1144 patients we identified 42 (3.7%) patients with PIK3CA mutations in exon 9 and exon 20. These mutations were found with a higher frequency in sqamous cell carcinoma (8.9%) compared to adenocarcinoma (2.9%, p<0.001). The most common PIK3CA mutation was exon 9 E545K. The majority of patients (57.1%) had additional oncogenic driver aberrations. With the exception of EGFR -mutated patients, non of the genetically defined subgroups in this cohort had a significantly better median overall survival. Further, PIK3CA -mutated patients had a significantly higher incidence of malignancy prior to lung cancer (p<0.001). Conclusion: PIK3CA -mutated NSCLC represents a clinically and genetically heterogeneous subgroup in adenocarcinomas as well as in squamous cell carcinomas with a higher prevalence of these mutations in sqamous cell carcinoma. PIK3CA mutations have no negative impact on survival after surgery or systemic therapy. However, PIK3CA mutated lung cancer frequently develops in patients with prior malignancies.

We recently reported fibroblast growth factor receptor-type 1 (FGFR1) amplification to be associated with therapeutically tractable FGFR1 dependency in squamous cell lung cancer. This makes FGFR1 a novel target for directed therapy in these tumors. To reproducibly identify patients for clinical studies, we developed a standardized reading and evaluation strategy for FGFR1 fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) and propose evaluation criteria, describe different patterns of low- and high-level amplifications and report on the prevalence of FGFR1 amplifications in pulmonary carcinomas. A total of 420 lung cancer patients including 307 squamous carcinomas, 100 adenocarcinomas of the lung and 13 carcinomas of other types were analyzed for FGFR1 amplification using a dual color FISH. We found heterogeneous and different patterns of gene copy numbers. FGFR1 amplifications were observed in 20% of pulmonary squamous carcinomas but not in adenocarcinomas. High-level amplification (as defined by an FGFR1/centromer 8 (CEN8) ratio ≥2.0, or average number of FGFR1 signals per tumor cell nucleus ≥6, or the percentage of tumor cells containing ≥15 FGFR1 signals or large clusters ≥10%) was detected at a frequency of 16% and low-level amplification (as defined by ≥5 FGFR1 signals in ≥50% of tumor cells) at a frequency of 4%. We conclude that FGFR1 amplification is one of the most frequent therapeutically tractable genetic lesions in pulmonary carcinomas. Standardized reporting of FGFR1 amplification in squamous carcinomas of the lung will become increasingly important to correlate therapeutic responses with FGFR1 inhibitors in clinical studies. Thus, our reading and evaluation strategy might serve as a basis for identifying patients for ongoing and upcoming clinical trials.