Lei H, Liu L, Wei J, Liu Y, Ling Y, Wang X, Guo L, Li W, Ying J, Yang L.
EGFR mutation is positively correlated with C-Met protein expression: a study of 446 resected lung adenocarcinoma.
Transl Cancer Res 2021;
10:233-240. [PMID:
35116255 PMCID:
PMC8797278 DOI:
10.21037/tcr-20-2202]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation and mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (C-Met) amplification are known factors for primary resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) in advanced primary lung adenocarcinoma. However, little is known about the relationship between high expression of C-Met protein and primary EGFR mutation. This research aims to investigate the correlation between EGFR mutation and C-Met protein expression in resected primary lung adenocarcinoma.
METHODS
Four hundred and forty-six surgically resected lung adenocarcinoma between 2013-2015 were collected for EGFR mutation analysis by real-time PCR (RT-PCR) and C-Met protein expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The relationship between the two biomarkers and clinicopathological features were analyzed.
RESULTS
The positive rate of EGFR mutation and C-Met protein expression were 66.4% (296/446) and 96.4% (430/446). EGFR mutation was significantly higher in female, mild to moderate differentiation, lepidic, acinar and papillary histological subtypes (P<0.05). C-Met expression was more prominent in female than male (201 vs. 123, 45.07% vs. 27.57%). EGFR mutation was found positively correlated with C-Met protein expression (P<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
EGFR mutation and C-Met protein expression are prone to have a female predominance, and are positively correlated with each other in surgically resected lung adenocarcinoma specimens. This finding may be beneficial in explaining some of the resistance mechanisms of EGFR-mutated cases, which is worth further study.
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