AXL and lung cancer: Among these pleiotropic mechanisms for drug resistance to EGFR-TKIs, activation of AXL via AXL kinase often confers EGFR-TKI resistance in lung cancer cells in vitro20 and in patients21, and a combination of osimertinib with a multikinase inhibitor cabozantinib of VEGFR, MET, and AXL overcomes resistance in vitro22.