doi:10.1155/2010/709678 Research Article Screening for EGFR Mutations in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer Treated with Gefitinib on a Compassionate-Use Program: A Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group Study

Copyright © 2010 Samuel Murray et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background and Aim. EGFR is commonly expressed in cancers of the head and neck (H and N), and anti-EGFR agents have demonstrated improvements in outcomes (TTP and OS). The aim of this study was to determine EGFR gene status in H and N cancer patients treated with gefitinib and to correlate mutational status with clinico-pathological data and response. Patients and Methods. Patients with histologically confirmed H and N cancer having failed prior treatment for advanced disease entered this compassionate-use-program. Nineteen patients received gefitinib. EGFR expression was assessed by IHC, gene copy number by FISH, andmutation analysis was conducted for EGFR (18-21),KRAS, BRAF (V600E), andHER-2 exon 20. An additional TKI naive cohort of 73 patients was also screened. Results. Mutations were detected in 6/19 patients (3 × EGFR, 1 × KRAS, and 2 × HER2