ALK, ROS1 and EGFR status of lung cancers in the Aegean Region of Turkey

Background/Aims: As targeted therapies are promising in the treatment of lung cancer (LC), it is important to identify the genetic variations in tumors. The present research aimed to determine the regional prevalence of alterations in ALK, ROS1, and EGFR genes. Materials and Methods: ALK rearrangement in 1152, ROS1 rearrangement in 390, and EGFR mutations in 1054 cases with LC were evaluated. Results: Alteration rates of ALK, ROS1, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) genes were 3.5%, 0.4%, and 11.2% in the samples, respectively. ALK rearrangements were mainly detected in young patients (P < 0.01) and in females (P < 0.01). Females were also more often inflicted by EGFR variations, especially from the exon 19 deletion. Exon 21 L858R mutations were more frequently found in men. However, any statistical significance between EGFR alterations and gender or age was not discovered. Conclusion: In this study, molecular changes were less frequent than expected. We thought that this low rate confirmed the aphorism of “smokes like a Turk, ” which could be because almost all patients were active or passive smokers.

Is there relationship between excision repair cross‑complementation 1 expression level and response to treatment and prognosis in an advanced stage lung cancer treated with cisplatin‑based chemotherapy.

AIM: It is important to know the tumor resistance against cisplatin before the treatment of non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the response to treatment and survival in patients with NSCLC treated with cisplatin‑based chemotherapy according to excision repair cross‑complementation 1 (ERCC1) expression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Among 119 patients treated with cisplatin and vinorelbine or docetaxel, 39 (32%) patients enrolled who have enough tumor tissue to analyze ERCC1 expression. ERCC1 expression defined as negative in score 0‑1, positive in score 2‑3. RESULTS: There was no difference between ERCC1 positive and negative groups (P = 0.63). Mean survival was 14.7 months (95% confidence interval [CI]; 10.0‑19.3 month) in ERCC1 negative group, 10.9 months (95% CI; 7.4‑14.3 month) in ERCC1 positive group (P = 0.23). Progression free survival was 7.9 months in ERCC1 negative group (95% CI; 5.8‑9.9 months), 6.2 months in ERCC1 positive group (95% CI; 4.0‑8.5 months) (P = 0.27). CONCLUSION: Identification of ERCC1expression level of tumor tissues in NSCLC patients before treatment was not useful in prediction of treatment response and prognosis.