MUTATION ANALYSIS OF THE EGFR GENE IN PATIENTS WITH NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER IN XINJIANG

Yi Shi^*, Xue-lian Pang, Zhi-ping Ma, Wen-li Cui, Wei Zhang, Yu-qing Ma

Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) that links extracellular signals to control of cell survival, growth, proliferation, and differentiation. EGFR has been a therapeutic target for human malignancies, due to its frequent hyperactivation; therefore, it is necessary to investigate the characteristics of EGFR mutation and identify patients who are likely to benefit from therapeutics targeting specific EGFR mutations. In this study, we examined 766 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients (675 tissue, 83 thoracic water precipitation, and 8 plasma samples) tested in the pathology department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from 2013 to 2017 using ARMS-PCR. The correlation between EGFR mutations and clinical-pathological features was further explored. Subgroup analyses according to ethnicity, histological type, sample type, and tumor grade were performed. These subgroup analyses showed the mutation rates in tumor tissue, thoracic water precipitation, and plasma samples were 30.5%, 37.3%, and 50.0% respectively. We found female (p<0.0001), non-smoker (p<0.001), adenocarcinoma (p<0.0001), and tissue specimens (tobacco use) were associated with a higher EGFR mutation rate. The most common mutations were exon 19 deletions (47.30%) and an L858R point (42.32%) mutation. We did not find any differences in EGFR mutations within ethnic groups. In addition, we did not find differences in common mutations and rare sensitive mutations in terms of survival rate after treatment with targeted therapies.