CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1587210
This article is part of the Research TopicTailored Strategies for Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in Special PopulationsView all 17 articles
Complete Response of Advanced HER2-Amplified Lung Adenocarcinoma to Cadonilimab Combined with Disitamab Vedotin: A Case Report
Provisionally accepted
- 1First Affiliated Hospital of Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
- 2Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
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Background: Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) gene amplification in lung adenocarcinoma is associated with aggressive tumor behavior and poor prognosis. Currently, there is no standard targeted therapy for HER2-amplified lung cancer.Case summary: A 60-year-old male presented with a mass in the right cervical spine area. Imaging and pathological examinations confirmed stage IV (T4N3M1) lung adenocarcinoma with metastases to both lungs, multiple lymph nodes, the pleura, the left adrenal gland, and the meninges. Genetic testing revealed HER2 gene amplification and low programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression (tumor proportion score <1%). The patient declined conventional chemotherapy due to concerns about side effects. With his informed consent, he was treated with a combination of cadonilimab (a PD-1/cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 bispecific antibody) and disitamab vedotin (an anti-HER2 antibody–drug conjugate), administered intravenously every 3 weeks. After nine treatment cycles over 6 months, imaging assessments showed complete disappearance of the pulmonary lesions, and the achieved complete response (CR) persisted for at least 7 months. The treatment was well-tolerated, and the patient maintained an excellent performance status (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score of 0) without significant adverse effects.Conclusion: Treatment with cadonilimab and disitamab vedotin induced a sustained complete response in a patient with advanced HER2-amplified lung adenocarcinoma who declined chemotherapy. Thus, this combination therapy may offer a promising, effective, and well-tolerated treatment alternative for similar patients. Further clinical trials are warranted to validate these findings and potentially establish a new standard of care for this subset of lung cancer patients.
Keywords: HER2 amplification, Immunotherapy, complete response, Non-small cell lung cancer, case report
Received: 04 Mar 2025; Accepted: 14 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Ma, Wang, Liu and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhuying Li, lizhuying_6808@163.com
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