Background: A total of 2%–7% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients have anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) mutations. At present, three or more generations of ALK inhibitors have been used for ALK-positive NSCLC treatment, including crizotinib, alectinib, ceritinib, and brigatinib. Although most adverse events (AEs) of ALK inhibitors are grades 1 to 2 and generally can be well tolerated, serious adverse events (SAEs) of ALK inhibitors lack data analysis, and the lung toxicity of ALK inhibitors needs attention. Thus, we performed this meta-analysis to evaluate the safety of ALK inhibitors, especially in terms of drug-related SAEs. Conclusion: ALK-related SAEs should draw attention, especially in terms of lung toxicity. According to this meta-analysis, alectinib seems to be the safest ALK inhibitor. Physicians should focus on related SAEs when prescribing ALK inhibitors. Given that lung cancer patients have poor pulmonary function at baseline, the lung toxicity risk of ALK inhibi..... READ ARTICLE
Cancer Management and Research
DOI:10.2147/CMAR.S190098
Authors: Helei Hou, Dantong Sun, Kewei Liu, Man Jiang, Dong Liu, Jingjuan Zhu, Na Zhou, Jing Cong, Xiaochun Zhang