Researchers assessed the characteristics, molecular profiles, and clinical outcomes of patients with non–small cell lung cancer who were screened over the course of 1 year to determine how feasible molecular profiling is on a routine basis and what effect the screening has on outcomes. They measured the frequency of molecular alterations in six genes routinely screened—EGFR, ALK HER2, KRAS, BRAF, andPIK3CA—and conducted 18,679 molecular analyses of 17,664 patients. Approximately 50% of the analyses showed genetic alteration. The presence of an alteration was associated with a significant improvement in the proportion of patients who achieved response to first- and second-line therapy compared with absence of an alteration (37% vs 33% and 15% vs 9%, respectively) and with improved progression-free and overall survival (10 vs 7.1 months and 16.5 vs 11.8 months, respectively). The researchers conclude that routine genetic profiling is feasible, and, given the acceptable turnaround for screening results and the advantage gained with detection of an alteration, the results indicate a clinical benefit.
