Insight

Collage photo of Laura Alder and Tejas Patil

Jul 28, 2025, 10:17

Real-World Insights Into Pulmonary Sarcomatoid Carcinoma, Shared by Laura Alder and Tejas Patil

Laura Alder, Thoracic Medical Oncologist at Duke University School of Medicine, shared a post on X by Tejas Patil, Thoracic Oncologist at University of Colorado Cancer Center, citing an article by Lingzhi Hong et al. published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology:

“Great background with new JTO and JTO CRR publication. Terrific analysis highlighting variations in PSCs: mixed histology subtypes, biomarkers (PD-L1), genomics (KRAS, MET). ChemoIO = huge benefit, but more to uncover!”

Title: Distinct Clinicogenomic Features and Immunotherapy Associations in Pulmonary Sarcomatoid Carcinoma: A Multi-Center Retrospective Study

Authors: Lingzhi Hong, Alessandro Di Federico, Bolun Liu, Alissa J. Cooper, Joao V. Alessi, Phoebe Clark, Waree Rinsurongkawong, Chingyi Young, Hui Li, Kang Qin, Muhammad Aminu, Yasir Elamin, Boris Sepesi, Jeff Lewis, Don L. Gibbons, Ara A. Vaporciyan, J. Jack Lee, Xiuning Le, Jia Wu, Sinchita Roy-Chowdhuri, Mark J. Routbort, P Andrew Futreal, John V. Heymach, Mark M. Awad, Adam J. Schoenfeld, Jianjun Zhang, Biagio Ricciuti, Lei Deng, Natalie I. Vokes.

You can read the Full Article in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.

Real-World Insights Into Pulmonary Sarcomatoid Carcinoma, Shared by Laura Alder and Tejas Patil

Quoting Tejas Patil’s post, shared from ESMO Open:

“I liked this real-world study on pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinomas (PSCs).

These are rare lung cancers with a very aggressive phenotype and are often excluded from clinical trials. Data here comports with other RWD studies.

METEx14 was a common oncogene found. Reinforces the need for comprehensive NGS; especially since METEx14 can be seen in PSCs.
KRAS was seen in 40% of cases, which seems high, given their prevalence in adenos. This was a retrospective series, so unclear if some of these were adeno with sarcomatoid differentiation.
There was an OS benefit with chemoIO over chemo, which has been shown before. I was REALLY curious to see if there was a difference between paclitaxel vs pemetrexed. I’m still not sure which doublet to use, but I generally lean to paclitaxel.
How many nonsmokers had METEx14? Wonder if MET TKIs would have been an option.
Somewhat surprising that PDL1 TPS did not associate with OS. Suggests that PSC have different biology, more akin to SCLC.
Does CTLA4 have a role here? There is an ongoing trial with ipi/nivo.”

Quoting ESMO Open’s post about a paper by K. Amrane et al. published in ESMO Open:

“Efficacy of first-line treatments for advanced pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinomas: a real-world analysis in ESMO Open. 229 patients, 169 treated with 1st line Treatment, 68.6% PD-L1 high, 39.7% KRAS mut. Longer PFS and OS with ICIs+/-CT as compared to CT alone.”

Title: Efficacy of first-line treatments for advanced pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinomas: a real-world analysis

Authors: K. Amrane, B. Cabarrou, G. Justeau, S. Schneider, X. Quantin, L. Falchero, F. Bigot, V. Ferrari, F. Guisier, N. Girard, H. Lena, E. Dansin, A. Madroszyk, A. Bizieux, D. Debieuvre, M. Perol, Y. Simoneau, L. Bosquet, R. Descourt, C. Chouaïd.

You can read the Full Article in ESMO Open.

Real-World Insights Into Pulmonary Sarcomatoid Carcinoma, Shared by Laura Alder and Tejas Patil