Drug-Resistant States in Response to EGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most abundant form of lung cancer. There is a need for targeted therapies for NSCLC that would obviate the risk of adverse effects associated with traditional chemotherapy. EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors erlotinib and gefitinib have been used successfully as targeted drug therapies for NSCLC, but NSCLC tumours may develop resistance to these inhibitors. In this study, we reanalysed publicly available single-cell RNA-Seq datasets to identify whether the drug-resistant states in erlotinib and gefitinib-treated cell model of NSCLC share common transcriptional responses. Further work is needed to determine whether gefitinib and erlotinib-resistance may be underlined by common transcriptional pathways.