Skip to main content
. 2022 Jul 20;481(3):351–366. doi: 10.1007/s00428-022-03344-1

Table 1.

Established and emerging biomarkers for NSCLC in Europe [7, 8]

Predictive biomarkers Estimated frequency in NSCLC adenocarcinomae Guideline-recommended testing technologies EMA-approved targeted therapyh
EGFR mutationsa 15%f Any appropriate, validated technology, subject to external quality assessment Afatinib, dacomitinib, erlotinib, gefitinib, osimertinib
KRAS p.G12C mutations

13%

25–33% (all KRAS mutations)

PCR; pyrosequencing; NGS Sotorasibi
ALK rearrangementsa 5% FISH (historical standard); IHC (validated against FISH); NGSg Alectinib, brigatinib, ceritinib, crizotinib, lorlatinib
ROS1 rearrangementsa 2% FISH (trial-validated standard); IHC to select for confirmatory FISH; NGSg Crizotinib, entrectinib
NTRK rearrangementsa  < 1% IHC; FISH; PCR; NGS Entrectinib, Iarotrectinib
BRAF mutationsb 2% Any appropriate, validated technology, subject to external quality assessment Dabrafenib, trametinib
RET rearrangements 2% Any validated test (e.g. FISH; PCR; NGS) Selpercatinib
PD-L1 expression levelsc

 ≥ 50% TPS: 33%

1–49% TPS: 30%

 < 1% TPS: 37%

IHC Immune checkpoint inhibitors (pembrolizumab, nivolumab, atezolizumab, cemiplimab) alone or with chemotherapy
Emerging biomarkersd Estimated frequency in NSCLC adenocarcinoma Potential testing technology Targeted therapies under investigation
MET exon skipping mutations 3% IHC; FISH; NGS Cabozantinib, capmatinibj,k, crizotinib, MGCD265, tepotinibj,l,m
ERBB2/HER2 mutations and amplifications 2% NGS Ado-trastuzumab emtansine, afatinib, dacomitinib, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxkik,j, trastuzumab, mobocertinib
NRG1 rearrangements  < 1% NGSg Afatinib, GSK2849330, AMG 888, seribantumab, zenocutuzumab
FGFR1 Data not available NGSg BGJ398, rogaratinib

Table adapted from Kerr et al. [8]. Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Reproduced under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license

ALK anaplastic lymphoma kinase, BRAF B-Raf proto-oncogene, EGFR epidermal growth factor receptor, EMA European Medicines Agency, ERBB2 Erb-B2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2, FDA Food and Drug Administration, FGFR1 fibroblast growth factor receptor-1, FISH fluorescence in situ hybridisation, HER2 human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, IHC immunohistochemistry, KRAS Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog, MEK mitogen-activated protein kinase, MET hepatocyte growth factor receptor, NGS next-generation sequencing, NRG1 neuregulin-1, NSCLC non-small cell lung cancer, NTRK neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase, PD-L1 programmed cell death ligand 1, RET rearranged during transfection, ROS1 ROS proto-oncogene 1, PCR polymerase chain reaction, TPS tumour proportion score

aPredicts response to targeted therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors

bPredicts response to BRAF with/without MEK inhibitors

cPredicts response to immunotherapy

dUnder investigation as predictive biomarkers with the goal of identifying appropriate therapies for patients

eNo specific driver known in over one-third of cases

fExon 19 deletions, exon 21 p.L858R mutations, and exon 20 insertions comprise approximately 10%, 6%, and 2.5% of all mutations, respectively

gEmerging technology

hAs of January 2022

iOther direct KRAS.G12C inhibitors are in the pipeline, including adagrasib (MRTX849; FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation), GDC-6036, JNJ-74699157, JDQ443, LY3537982, D-1553

jFDA approval

kApproved in Japan

lUnder review by EMA

mApproved in the UK under the Early Access to Medicine Scheme