Increased prevalence of EGFR-mutant lung cancer in women and in East Asian populations: analysis of estrogen-related polymorphisms.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Somatic mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene occur in a subset of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and are highly predictive of the clinical response to selective EGFR kinase inhibitors. The prevalence of EGFR-mutant NSCLC is appreciably higher in females than in males and in East Asian than in Caucasian populations. We hypothesized that these disparate frequencies may be attributable to underlying genetic modifiers. Given the coincident differences in sex and ethnic origin, we tested allozymatic variants of enzymes involved in estrogen biosynthesis and metabolism, encoded by polymorphic alleles known to differ in frequency between Caucasian and Asian populations, as modifying alleles.

Experimental design

We genotyped nine polymorphisms in

SUBMITTER: Bell DW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3391698 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature