Real-world clinical treatment outcomes in Chinese non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations

BACKGROUND: EGFR exon 20 insertions (EGFR ex20ins) constitute a heterogeneous subset of EGFR-activating alterations. However, the effectiveness of standard therapy in patients with EGFR ex20ins remains poor. METHODS: In our study, we retrospectively collected next-generation sequencing (NGS) data from 7,831 Chinese NSCLC patients and analyzed the relationship between EGFR ex20ins variations and medical records. RESULTS: Our data showed that EGFR ex20ins account for up to 3.5% of all EGFR mutation non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and 1.6% of all NSCLC patients in China. Thirty-eight different variants of EGFR ex20ins were identified in 129 NSCLC patients. We observed that the patients with EGFR ex20ins may benefit from the anti-angiogenesis agents significantly (P = 0.027). In the EGFR ex20ins near-loop group, patients who received second-/third-generation EGFR-TKI therapy treatment as first-line treatment had a longer median progression-free survival (PFS) than those who initiated treatment with first-generation EGFR-TKI or chemotherapy. Patients with co-mutations of EGFR ex20ins near-loop and TP53 tended to have a shorter OS in second-/third-generation EGFR-TKI therapy (P = 0.039). Additionally, median PFS was significantly longer in patients harboring EGFR ex20ins far-loop variants who received chemotherapy as a first-line setting (P = 0.037). CONCLUSIONS: Overall survival was significantly longer in EGFR ex20ins patients with anti-angiogenesis agents. For the choice of first-line strategy, NSCLC with EGFR ex20ins near-loop variants may benefit from second-/third-generation EGFR-TKI, while patients harboring EGFR ex20ins far-loop variants might have better outcomes from chemotherapy. TP53 could serve as a potential predictive marker in poor prognosis for EGFR ex20ins near-loop patients.