Author(s)

Alexander Yakobson¹, Tal Mor², Levitas Dina¹, Laila C. Roisman¹, Daniel Levin³, Wafeek Alguayn¹, Sara Morgenstern⁴, Keren Rouvinov¹, Nir Peled^1*, Waleed Kian¹

¹The Legacy Heritage Oncology Center & Dr. Larry Norton Institute, Soroka Medical Center & Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
²Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
³Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
⁴Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Campus, Petah Tikva, Israel.

ROS1 oncogenic fusion is reported to be 1% - 2% of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) of the adenocarcinoma subgroup. Meanwhile, there are no records of squamous cell cancer patients with tumors harboring ROS1 fusions. The Foundation Medicine database indicates a frequency of ROS1 rearrangements is 0.2% among squamous NSCLC. Crizotinib is known to be very effective in these patients. Here we present a non-smoker patient who had pure squamous NSCLC that was treated by combinational immunotherapy under a clinical trial and progressed after 2 cycles. Surprisingly, comprehensive genomic profiling detected a rare oncogenic EZR-ROS1 fusion, and the patient was treated by crizotinib with a significant response within 6 weeks. To date, the patient has been on therapy for 42 months and has achieved a complete metabolic response.

ROS1, Crizotinib, Squamous Cell Lung Cancer, Immunotherapy; Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Yakobson, A. , Mor, T. , Dina, L. , Roisman, L. , Levin, D. , Alguayn, W. , Morgenstern, S. , Rouvinov, K. , Peled, N. and Kian, W. (2020) ROS1 in Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer—Combined Immunotherapy (PD1/CTLA4) or Targeted Therapy?. Journal of Cancer Therapy, 11, 365-370. doi: 10.4236/jct.2020.116031.