Case report: HER2 amplification as a resistance mechanism to crizotinib in NSCLC with MET exon 14 skipping

Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring MET exon 14 skipping can benefit from crizotinib treatment. Currently, the main resistance mechanisms to crizotinib are MET D1228N and Y1230C mutations. We reported a case of a Chinese NSCLC patient with MET exon 14 skipping detected by targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) achieved clinical and imaging remission after crizotinib treatment. Then, amplification of multiple genes such as erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2 (HER2) was detected when disease progressed, indicating novel resistance mechanisms to crizotinib. Ultimately the patient died from cancer-related factors. This was the first NSCLC case with MET exon 14 skipping which reported the HER2 gene amplification at the time of progression during crizotinib treatment, indicating that bypass mechanisms contribute to the development of acquired resistance to MET inhibitors.