Comprehensive Molecular Genotyping Improves OS in Metastatic NSCLC

Current guidelines recommend comprehensive molecular genotyping for newly diagnosed patients with metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting analyzed the impact of concurrent plasma- and tissue-based next-generation sequencing on the comprehensiveness of molecular genotyping and overall survival.

In this exclusive MedPage Today video, lead study author Charu Aggarwal, MD, associate director of the Center for Precision Medicine at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, discusses the importance of the data.

Following is a transcript of her remarks:

We are very interested in finding ways to improve comprehensive molecular genotyping for patients with metastatic newly diagnosed non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. It’s incredibly important to genotype these patients so that we can realize the potential of precision medicine.

There are several ways in which we can do that. The gold standard way is to perform tissue sequencing. Take a piece of the tumor tissue and send it off to our molecular pathology lab for genotyping. However, we have demonstrated earlier that adding in plasma genotyping can improve our rates of detecting actionable alterations.

What we are demonstrating in this abstract this year is that when we performed concurrent testing — that is, when we performed tissue and plasma genotyping for patients with metastatic and newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer — we were able to increase our rates of comprehensive molecular genotyping.

Additionally, for patients who underwent comprehensive molecular genotyping as defined by NCCN [National Comprehensive Cancer Network] guideline concordant testing, we found that the overall survival for patients undergoing comprehensive molecular testing was much higher than for those patients that did not undergo comprehensive molecular testing.

I think this is very important, because while we know that guideline concordant care is important, it has never been linked to survival before. And if we can match patients to their appropriate therapies, I think we can finally realize the potential of precision medicine.