Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) affected acquired resistance to gefitinib in a "never-smoked" female patient with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Development of acquired resistance to gefitinib after an initial good response is common. Recently, it was reported that this acquired resistance is related to a secondary mutation associated with a substitution of threonine by methionine at codon 790 (T790M) of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene. In this report, we present a "never smoking" woman with advanced lung cancer who showed acquired resistance to gefitinib, and analysis of autopsy samples revealed no evidence of EGFR mutations in either exons 18-21 or codon 790, and positive immunostaining for breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP). We describe, for the first time, a case in which expression of BCRP was associated with acquired resistance to gefitinib, independent of EGFR mutations.