(StatePoint) A new treatment option is providing hope for lung cancer patients who have a type of mutation known as KRAS. KRAS mutations were previously considered untreatable, but on May 28, 2021, the first KRAS G12C targeted therapy, Sotorasib, was approved. One in eight non-small cell lung cancer patients are impacted by this biomarker. Patients can receive the therapy if their cancer grows following chemotherapy or immunotherapy.

When tumor tissue is viewed under a microscope, physicians see what type of cancer it is. But they can also look for changes in the DNA of the tumor that might be causing it to grow. In lung cancer, these are changes that happen over time and are not inherited. Sometimes these changes are called biomarkers or molecular markers. The KRAS mutation is one of those biomarkers, and is an error in a protein found in normal cells. Normally, KRAS serves as an information hub for signals in the cell that lead to cell growth. When there is a mutation in KRAS, it signals too much and cells grow without being told to, causing cancer. There are several types of KRAS mutations. About 13 percent of non-small cell lung cancer patients have KRAS G12C, making it one of the most common lung cancer biomarkers.

Since KRAS was discovered in lung cancer in 1984, researchers have been unable to find a targeted therapy or pill that can address what causes the cancer cell to grow. Many targeted therapies have been approved in lung cancer for a variety of other biomarkers, including those less common than KRAS. But this new drug doesn’t do any good sitting on a shelf. Advanced non-small cell adenocarcinoma lung cancer patients need to be tested for a wide range of biomarkers that have approved therapies or emerging therapies. This is sometimes called comprehensive biomarker testing.

Patients should also consider talking to their doctor about clinical trials. Before the new KRAS drug became approved, it was studied in a clinical trial, like all cancer drugs. Clinical trials are highly monitored and many test emerging targeted therapies. Many of these trials are also conducted to make it possible for all patients to receive a new drug. When this is not the case, the clinical trial is structured so participants either receive the highest standard of care known at the time or the new drug. This means that trial participants will never get a placebo or sugar pill. Like biomarker testing, clinical trials should be discussed with your physician.

Sotorasib was the fourth lung cancer drug approved in 2021, and there will likely be many others. Sotorasib marks a turning point in treating patients with KRAS G12C. Hopefully, it will open doors for even more KRAS targeted therapies.

Learn more about KRAS, including advice for newly diagnosed KRAS-positive lung cancer patients, in a video by the American Lung Association at www.Lung.org/kras.