title: CRE: a cost effective and rapid approach for PCR-mediated concatenation of KRAS and EGFR exons: Rapid way to detect EGFR and KRAS mutations.
abstract: Molecular diagnostics has changed the way lung cancer patients are treated worldwide. Of several different testing methods available, PCR followed by directed sequencing and amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) are the two most commonly used diagnostic methods worldwide to detect mutations at  KRAS exon 2 and  EGFR kinase domain exons 18-21 in lung cancer. Compared to ARMS, the PCR followed by directed sequencing approach is relatively inexpensive but more cumbersome to perform. Moreover, with a limiting amount of genomic DNA from clinical formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens or fine biopsies of lung tumors, multiple rounds of PCR and sequencing reactions often get challenging. Here, we report a cost-effective single multiplex-PCR based method, CRE (for  Co-amplification of five  K RAS and  E GFR exons), followed by concatenation of the PCR product as a single linear fragment for direct sequencing. CRE is a robust protocol that can be adapted for routine use in clinical diagnostics with reduced variability, cost and turnaround time requiring a minimal amount of template DNA extracted from FFPE or fresh frozen tumor samples. As a proof of principle, CRE is able to detect the activating  EGFR L858R and T790M  EGFR mutations in lung cancer cell line and primary tumors.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer, Tata Memorial Centre, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, 410210, India.
authors.forename: Manoj P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Ramteke
authors.affiliation: Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer, Tata Memorial Centre, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, 410210, India.
authors.forename: Kuldeep J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer, Tata Memorial Centre, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, 410210, India.
authors.forename: Mukul
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Godbole
authors.affiliation: Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer, Tata Memorial Centre, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, 410210, India.
authors.forename: Maulik
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vyas
authors.affiliation: Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer, Tata Memorial Centre, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, 410210, India.
authors.forename: Kunal
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karve
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400012, India.
authors.forename: Anuradha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Choughule
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400012, India.
authors.forename: Kumar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Prabhash
authors.affiliation: Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer, Tata Memorial Centre, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, 410210, India.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dutt
keywords: Clinical diagnostics; EGFR and KRAS mutation; concatenation of PCR products; multiplex-PCR