Intratumoral heterogeneity characterized by pretreatment PET in non-small cell lung cancer patients predicts progression-free survival on EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor

PLoS One. 2018 Jan 31;13(1):e0189766. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189766. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Intratumoral heterogeneity has been suggested to be an important resistance mechanism leading to treatment failure. We hypothesized that radiologic images could be an alternative method for identification of tumor heterogeneity. We tested heterogeneity textural parameters on pretreatment FDG-PET/CT in order to assess the predictive value of target therapy. Recurred or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) subjects with an activating EGFR mutation treated with either gefitinib or erlotinib were reviewed. An exploratory data set (n = 161) and a validation data set (n = 21) were evaluated, and eight parameters were selected for survival analysis. The optimal cutoff value was determined by the recursive partitioning method, and the predictive value was calculated using Harrell's C-index. Univariate analysis revealed that all eight parameters showed an increased hazard ratio (HR) for progression-free survival (PFS). The highest HR was 6.41 (P<0.01) with co-occurrence (Co) entropy. Increased risk remained present after adjusting for initial stage, performance status (PS), and metabolic volume (MV) (aHR: 4.86, P<0.01). Textural parameters were found to have an incremental predictive value of early EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) failure compared to that of the base model of the stage and PS (C-index 0.596 vs. 0.662, P = 0.02, by Co entropy). Heterogeneity textural parameters acquired from pretreatment FDG-PET/CT are highly predictive factors for PFS of EGFR TKI in EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients. These parameters are easily applicable to the identification of a subpopulation at increased risk of early EGFR TKI failure. Correlation to genomic alteration should be determined in future studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / diagnostic imaging
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / drug therapy
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / pathology*
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • ErbB Receptors / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • ErbB Receptors / genetics
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lung Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging
  • Lung Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Lung Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Mutation
  • Positron-Emission Tomography / methods*
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / therapeutic use*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors
  • ErbB Receptors

Grants and funding

This study was supported by a grant from the Ministry for Health, Welfare & Family Affairs (HI13C0015) and the Innovative Research Institute for Cell Therapy (A062260), Republic of Korea. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.