Listen for Zebras: A ROS1 Lung Cancer Story
There's an old saying in medicine, "When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras." The logic behind the adage is that the common answer is usually the correct one. This is all well and good for the horses, but us zebras can sometimes get lost in the shuffle. I have ROS1 lung cancer, meaning that my cancer is driven by a mutation in the ROS1 gene. There is an explosion of research currently underway, examining the genetic causes of cancer. ROS1 is rare, accounting for only about 1 to 2 percent of all lung cancers. In fact, it wasn�t until March of 2016 that a drug was FDA approved specifically for ROS1 -positive lung cancer. Xalkori (crizotinib) is the drug that has been saving my life for over two years. I went to a conference two years ago that focused on acquired resistance to targeted medicines. The afternoon sessions broke out by mutation type: EGFR, ALK and ROS1 . Us zebras were tickled pink to see eight people with ROS1 , since none of us had ever met anothe...