title: Marked tumor response to crizotinib after 4 years of maintenance pemetrexed in a patient with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive non-small-cell lung cancer.
abstract: Maintenance therapy with pemetrexed is well tolerated and achieves prolonged progression-free and overall survival in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma. The echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is a recently identified fusion oncogene that exists in ~5% of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). It was demonstrated that ALK-positive NSCLCs exhibit a high response rate to the ALK inhibitor crizotinib. This is the case report of a patient with NSCLC harboring EML4-ALK rearrangement, who experienced slowly progressive disease within 4 years of maintenance treatment with pemetrexed and later exhibited a marked response to crizotinib. The sustained clinical benefits suggest further investigations on anticancer agent administration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Oncology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Oncology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China ; State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Meijuan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Oncology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China ; State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: You
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
keywords: adenocarcinoma; anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive non-small-cell lung cancer; crizotinib; pemetrexed