Photo Credit: Mohammed Haneefa Nizamudeen

The following is a summary of “Association of mutation profiles with metastasis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer,” published in the October 2024 issue of Oncology by Li et al.      

Patients of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) often experience varied metastatic patterns, which may be influenced by specific gene mutations.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to analyze the correlation between common gene mutation types and metastatic sites in patients with NSCLC.  

They enrolled1,586 patients with NSCLC and used fluorescence polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect mutations in EGFR, ALK, ROS1, RET, MET, BRAF, HER2, KRAS, NRAS, and PIK3CA genes while also examining factors such as sex, smoking status, age at diagnosis, histological type, and TNM stage. The sites of metastasis in patients with stage IV NSCLC were further analyzed.  

The results showed that the EGFR-mutation group had higher rates of metastasis in the lung (18.9%, P=0.004), brain (18.9%, P =0.001), and bone (27.1%, P =0.004) compared to patients with wild-type. The ALK-mutation group (71.0%, P <0.001), BRAF-mutation group (82.4%, P =0.005), and NRAS-mutation group (100%, P =0.025) were also more likely to metastasize than the wild-type. In the mutation group of ALK, common metastasis sites included lung (24.2%, P =0.013), brain (24.2%, P =0.007), bone (32.3%, P =0.024), liver (19.4%, P =0.001), and pleura (29.0%, P =0.021). The KRAS-mutation group showed increased lung (21.7%, P =0.012) and brain metastasis (23.3%, P =0.001). The HER2-mutation group had lower metastasis rates (28.3%, P =0.014) and no significant differences in RET, MET, and PIK3CA mutations.  

They concluded that patients with ALK, BRAF, or NRAS mutations were more likely to experience metastasis, whereas those with HER2 mutations showed reduced metastatic tendencies. Patients with EGFR mutations in NSCLC were also more susceptible to developing bone, lung, or brain metastasis.  

Source: frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2024.1451576/full