K-RAS Gene Mutations in Patients with Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Background and objective Recent studies indicated that Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with mutant K-RAS failed to benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, and the cancer did not respond to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). These findings indicated that K-RAS gene status can be a biomarker to predict the sensitivity of EGFR TKIs. The aim of this study is to analyze K-RAS gene mutations with NSCLC patients in Cancer Center of Sun Yet-sen University. Methods 52 fresh frozen tumor tissues were collected and K-RAS genes were amplified by PCR. Then PCR amplification fragments were sequenced and analyzed. Results Somatic mutations in the codon 12 of K-RAS gene in tumors were identified from 2 of 52 (3.8%) patients. There were no relationships among K-RAS gene mutations and gender, pathology, smoking, differentiation and stage. Conclusion The frequency of K-RAS gene mutations with NSCLC in our center is very low and is similar to that in Asia patients, and is lower than that in Caucasian population