title: Non-invasive detection of EGFR deletion at exon 19 in non-small cell lung cancer by real time diagnostic.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The non-invasive identification of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations is important for the institution of individualized therapy of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, the feasibility of screening for EGFR exon 19 E746_A750del mutations in circulating DNA from plasma was assessed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mutant-specific primers with a Taqman probe (MST-PCR) were designed. The ability of this method to accurately detect decreasing concentrations of E746_A750del mutant within a wild type DNA background that mimics the situation of a plasma sample from patients with acquired mutations is verified. To verify the clinical applicability of this method, 55 plasma samples from NSCLC patients were tested, and the sensitivity of MST-PCR was compared to that of direct sequencing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that MST-PCR could detect 10 to 50 copies/microL of E746_A750del, representing 0.1% of the wild type EGFR allelic population. Among the 55 cases of NSCLC, 10 cases of E746_A750del were detected by MST-PCR, while only 1 case was revealed by direct sequencing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings demonstrate that MST-PCR provides superior sensitivity for the detection of the E746_A750del mutation, suggesting its potential application in the noninvasive detection of E746_A750del mutations in plasma samples from NSCLC patients.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Zhi-Chao
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.forename: Jia-Jia
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005820:Genetic Testing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D017384:Sequence Deletion
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C512478:EGFR protein, human; D066246:ErbB Receptors