Effect of acid suppressants on the efficacy of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer.

This retrospective study was conducted to evaluate whether oral acid suppressant (AS) therapy is associated with decreased efficacy of gefitinib and erlotinib, particularly in patients with mutated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). A total of 46 consecutive patients with pathologically confirmed non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), who were treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in two tertiary hospitals between September, 2005 and May, 2013, were retrospectively analyzed. Of the 46 patients, 11 received AS treatment. As regards age, gender, smoking history, performance status, histology of lung cancer, clinical stage, body surface area (BSA) and type of EGFR mutation, there were no statistically significant differences between patients with and those without AS treatment. There was no statistically significant difference in progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival (OS) between the two groups of patients (P=0.296 and 0.613, respectively). As regards the relative dose of TKI/BSA and survival in patients with and those without AS treatment, there were no statistically significant differences in PFS and OS between the two groups of patients. Our study indicates that AS treatment may not compromise TKI efficacy (gefitinib or erlotinib) in NSCLC patients with mutated EGFR. Prospective studies and large-scale confirmation studies investigating the effect of AS co-administration with TKIs in patients with mutated EGFR may be meaningful in clinical practice.