title: Absence of evidence for epidermal growth factor receptor and human homolog of the Kirsten rat sarcoma-2 virus oncogene mutations in breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is an available target of effective anti-EGFR therapy for human breast cancer. KRAS, the human homolog of the Kirsten rat sarcoma-2 virus oncogene, encodes a main downstream signaling molecule in the EGFR pathway. The aim of this study was to assess the presence of EGFR and KRAS gene mutations in breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  EGFR and KRAS gene mutations were investigated in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues from 143 Chinese female patients with breast cancer by means of real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on RT-PCR, 2/143 (1.4%) samples and 1/143 (0.7%) had EGFR and KRAS gene mutations, respectively. Overall, none of the cases was identified with mutations of both of these two genes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, both EGFR and KRAS mutations were present rarely in this cohort of samples with breast cancer. This suggested that mutation analyses for EGFR and KRAS are not useful as screening tests for sensitivity to anti-EGFR therapy for breast carcinomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, PR China. lvning@sysucc.org.cn
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.forename: Suxia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Zeming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Qidong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Minqing
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xinhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Weidong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005557:Formaldehyde; D011905:Genes, ras; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016707:Tissue Fixation
chemical_list: D005557:Formaldehyde; D066246:ErbB Receptors