Frequency of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Mutations among Iraqi Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Abstract

Background: Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) mutations are actually currently utilized as genetic biomarkers for focused lung carcinoma treatment. Unfortunately, there is minimal data on Iraq’s proportion of mutations in EGFR gene. The current study’s objective is to find the mutations prevalence of EGFR gene mutations and the dominant EGFR mutations in patients with lung carcinoma type non-small cell (NSCLC) from Iraq. Methods: On tissues taken from paraffin-embedded blocks of NSCLC patients, RT-PCR was performed to investigate the mutations in EGFR gene. Results: This study involved 234 paraffin tissue blocks of NSCLC patients in addition to17 paraffin tissue blocks with invalid results, although it was tested more than three times. This study was used Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to determine mutations in EGFR gene. Forty-seven out of 234 patients had an EGFR mutation (20%). The most prevalent anomaly found in exon19 Del (70.3%) followed by L 858 R (15%). High mutations were found among two age groups (60–69) and 70–79 which suggest increased mutation among old ages when compared with young people. However, no significant difference between EGFR mutation status and sex or age status was found. Conclusion: The prevalence of EGFR mutation among Iraqi patients is 20% which is compatible with a percentage of cases documented in Asian populations and the most prevalent EGFR mutant in Iraq cases is the EX19del.