Molecular study of KRAS mutations in Iraqi patients with gastrointestinal tract cancer

Abstract

Gastrointestinal cancers, including stomach, liver, oesophageal, pancreatic, and colorectal cancers, represent more than a quarter of all cancers. Many abnormal gene expressions and dysregulated signalling pathways have been found in human cancer. Cancer often has activating mutations of the KRAS (Kirsten rat sarcoma virus) oncogene. Fifty blood samples from gastrointestinal cancer patients were gathered from the Merjan Teaching Hospital in Babylon, Iraq, and were used for a case-control study in the Oncology Center. According to the results, the most common cancers were found in the colon (29%), followed by the liver (27%), pancreas (19%), stomach (13%), and other (12%). In this work, we evaluated the distribution of KRAS mutations across the gastrointestinal tract. Sequencing data re¬vealed a significant regional difference in the frequency of KRAS mutations, while the alignment results revealed the presence of six variations in the analysed samples when compared with the referring reference DNA sequences. Six highly interesting nucleic acid polymorphisms were detected in the investigated samples. When combined with addi¬tional carcinogenic markers such as the patient sex, age, consistent molecular subtypes, and tumour stage, KRAS mutation is not the deterministic carcinogenic factor for gastrointestinal malignancies.