title: Epidermal growth factor receptor gene mutation status and its association with clinical characteristics and tumor markers in non-small-cell lung cancer patients in Northwest China.
abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the mutation status of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and its association with clinical characteristics and tumor markers in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China. We enrolled 51 cases of NSCLC patients who received radical surgical treatment in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was applied to detect exons 18, 19, 20 and 21 of the EGFR gene in tumor tissues. Multiple tumor markers, including carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), were assessed preoperatively. The EGFR-positive rate was 49.02% (25/51), with a mutation rate of 8% (2/25) in exon 18, 52% (13/51) in exon 19, 40% (10/51) in exon 21 and no mutations in exon 20. The positive mutation rate in men and women was 37.5% (12/32) and 68.42%, respectively (13/19), with a statistically significantly higher rate in women (P<0.05). There were also statistically significant differences among adenocarcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma cases (P<0.05), while no statistically significant differences were observed in adenocarcinoma cases regarding degree of differentiation, lymph node metastasis and TNM stage (P>0.05). There was a statistically significant association between the EGFR gene mutation status and the preoperative serum CEA level (P<0.05). The mutation rate of the EGFR gene was 68.42% in female lung adenocarcinoma patients, which supports the application of targeted therapy in such cases. However, whether it is possible to obtain information regarding targeted therapy through measuring the level of serum CEA for NSCLC patients with unknown EGFR mutation status requires further investigation through related studies including a higher number of cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830054, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ablajan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abdurahman
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830054, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jurat
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Anwar
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830054, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Abdugheni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turghun
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Institute, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830054, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Madiniyet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niyaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830054, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Liwei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830054, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Idiris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Awut
keywords: Xinjiang; epidermal growth factor receptor; non-small-cell lung cancer; targeted therapy; tumor marker