Sequential therapy with crizotinib and a second-generation ALK inhibitor versus direct therapy of a second-generation ALK inhibitor in ALK-positive advanced lung cancer: a real-world study

BACKGROUND: There are few real-world studies in which the efficacy of sequential crizotinib and second-generation anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are compared with direct therapy of second-generation ALK TKI in ALK-positive advanced lung cancer. METHODS: Between May 2014 and October 2022, 211 patients from the Zhejiang Cancer Hospital who harbored ALK rearrangement were analyzed. Of these patients, 115 received crizotinib with sequential second-generation ALK TKIs, and 96 patients received a second-generation ALK TKI directly. The survival analysis of median progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and central nervous system time to progression (CNS TTP) in the various groups were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the log-rank test. RESULTS: Of the 211 lung cancer patients with ALK rearrangement, there were no statistical differences in PFS (25.27 vs. 20.47 months, P=0.644) and OS (70.27 months vs. not reached, P=0.991) between the 115 patients in the sequential therapy group and the 96 patients in the direct second-generation group. In the patients with baseline brain metastases at study entry (n=54), the sequential therapy group had a significantly shorter median CNS TTP than the direct second-generation group (10.40 vs. 22.40 months, P=0.040). Multivariate analyses revealed that the prognostic factors for PFS included performance status (PS, P=0.047) and brain metastases (P=0.010). For OS, the prognostic factors included PS (P=0.047) and liver metastases (P=0.021). CONCLUSIONS: There was no statistical difference in efficacy between first-generation sequential second-generation ALK TKIs and direct therapy of second-generation ALK TKI regimens. The CNS efficacy of the direct second-generation group was better than that of the sequential therapy group. The prognostic factors for PFS included PS and brain metastases, while the prognostic factors for OS, PS and liver metastases were included.