University Of TexasGenes seem to be accountable for several aspects related to cancer. A recent study claims that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) appears to be a legalized therapeutic target for non-small cell lung cancer.

Scientists have now apparently found a 93-gene signature that is possibly related to the attendance of EGFR mutations in tumors from lung cancer patients. Moreover, this seems to be a positive prognostic marker in patients suffering from early stage lung cancer.This data is said to have instant clinical connotations. The EGFR-mutation signature could be assessed as a forecaster of reaction in the BATTLE (Biomarker-integrated Approaches of Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer Elimination) I trial.

Pierre Saintigny, M.D., Ph.D., a research scientist at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, commented, “We hope this mutation signature will be able to define patients with these tumor types who will then respond to EGFR inhibition.”

The present study included around 195 human lung adenocarcinoma samples. The study authors apparently performed RNA expression profiling on all of them. They discovered that a 93-gene signature that supposedly recognized the attendance of EGFR mutation and was corroborated in numerous cohorts of lung cancer patients. Moreover, the occurrence of this gene signature was believed to be considerably associated with drug sensitivity to erlotinib and gefitinib in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines.

Saintigny mentioned that the EGFR-mutation signature could aid in directing medical treatment decisions. It possibly delivers diagnosis information further than EGFR-mutation status and could provide a few biological insights in EGFR-mutant tumors.

The study was presented at the AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer.