Molecular Profiling and Targeted Agents for Thoracic Malignancies

Basket trials are designed with multiple arms to enroll different populations of patients with the intention of expediting clinical research, especially in populations with rare genetic mutations.

Now, investigators have assessed the feasibility of this strategy by identifying molecular biomarkers in 569 patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), small-cell lung cancer, and thymic malignancies and simultaneously evaluating targeted therapies according to molecular markers and tumor histology: erlotinib for EGFR mutations; selumetinib for KRAS, HRAS, NRAS, or BRAF mutations; MK2206 for PIK3CA, AKT, or PTEN mutations; lapatinib for ERBB2 mutations or amplifications; and sunitinib for KIT or PDGFRA mutations or amplifications.

Of…