MET-inhibitors meet MET mutations in lung cancer

Lung cancer accounts for a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring activating mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion genes benefit from treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and ALK-TKIs, respectively. Recently, NSCLC harboring ROS1 or RET fusion genes were also found to be sensitive to respective TKIs. In addition, mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) protein overexpression and MET amplification have been shown in NSCLC irrespective of EGFR mutation status (1,2)