A novel EGFR nonsense mutation in a non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patient who did not derive any clinical benefit with combination chemotherapy and erlotinib

Most of the somatic epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations described to date in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients are located in the kinase domain and are considered activating mutations. Some of these mutations are associated with response to specific EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) such as gefitinib and erlotinib. Here we report a case of a previously undescribed EGFR nonsense mutation in a lung adenocarcinoma patient who did not derive any clinical benefit with combination chemotherapy and erlotinib. To the best of our knowledge this is the second report in the literature describing an EGFR nonsense mutation in lung cancer patients.