Genomic Landscape of EGFR Mutant NSCLC Prior to Afatinib and at the Time of Disease Progression Following Afatinib

The current proposal will include exome and transcriptome sequencing from blood collected at baseline along with tumor samples obtained prior to starting afatinib and at the time of disease progression (a total of two tissue samples and one blood sample per patient). The samples will be collected via consent to the IRB (Institutional Review Board) approved banking study "Tissue and Blood Acquisition for Genomic Analysis and Collection of Health Information from Patients with Thoracic Malignancies, Suspected Thoracic Malignancies, or Mesothelioma".

If carried out successfully, the proposed strategy very likely will lead to a larger and adequately powered study (perhaps using whole genome sequencing) to understand fully evolving molecular changes due to clonal selection under treatment pressure. The pace of progress in the field of sequencing technology currently underway is only likely to accelerate in the near future yielding richer and highly content-rich information. Moreover, it is likely that genomic information from DNA sequencing and transcriptome will be supplemented by analyses of translatomes and proteomes.

Successful completion of the proposed study would enable future studies to fully harness the potential of emerging technologies to develop novel approaches to treat and even ideally prevent resistance to EGFR TKIs (tyrosine-kinase inhibitor) and other molecularly targeted therapies. This could serve as a template for other cancer types as well. Over time, this approach, broadly used, would create simultaneously, highly valuable annotated tumor specimens along with germ line DNA for high-throughput genomic studies to identify novel targets and their impact on the course of disease. Re-analyzing molecular changes in the tumor at the time of disease progression would likely be a new standard of care to guide salvage therapy.