COVID-19 in lung cancer patients receiving ALK/ROS1 inhibitors
Menée en Italie pendant la crise sanitaire liée à la pandémie de COVID-19, cette étude présente deux cas de patients atteints d’un cancer du poumon, présentant une suspicion d’infection par le Coronavirus et traités par inhibiteurs de ALK/ROS1, et discute des enjeux liés à leur prise en charge
Since December 2019, an increasing number of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) cases have been reported all around the globe following the outbreak of the pandemic acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection [1]. To date, COVID-19 lacks a specific treatment to counteract the onset of SARS and subsequent multiorgan failure, whose evolution is usually rapid and severe. Liang and collaborators recently described an increased risk of COVID-19 among patients with cancer, which is also associated with a poorer COVID-19 prognosis [2]. Thus, international panels have recommended to delay or suspend anticancer treatments, when feasible, raising the issue of potential cancer progressions [3,4]. Concerning oncogene-addicted non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, outcomes are strongly influenced by the continuous administration of targeted tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Thus, the withdrawal of TKI might be detrimental in this subgroup of patients. This becomes even more relevant when a pulmonary infection by SARS-CoV-2 is diagnosed accidentally in asymptomatic patients. Herein, we present two cases of oncogene-driven NSCLC patients suspected infected by SARS-CoV-2 who maintained targeted therapy with ALK/ROS1 TKIs in the presence of SARS-CoV-2 interstitial pneumonia and recovered from infection without specific antiviral treatments.(…)