RESUMO
Individual therapy based on various pathohistological types and biological characteristics may be the practical trend of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment. To provide a molecular criterion for drug selection, we investigated the incidence of somatic mutation and mRNA expression levels of common genes relevant to treatment response in a population with locally advanced NSCLC. Mutant-enriched and branched DNA-liquidchip technology (bDNA-LCT) were used to detect the somatic mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), KRAS, BRAF and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase catalytic α (PIK3CA) genes, and mRNA levels of EGFR, ERCC1, class III ß-tubulin (TUBB3) and TYMS, separately, in paraffin tissue blocks from 30 patients with stage IIIA NSCLC. Our current findings revealed that 6, 4 and 2 out of 30 samples were found with mutations in exons 19, 21 and 20 of the EGFR gene, respectively. The mutation incidence of exons 19 and 21 had a positive correlation with EGFR mRNA expression. Mutations in exons 12 and 13 of the K-ras gene were found in 2 out of 30, and 1 out of 30 samples, separately. Three out of 30 samples were found with mutations in codon 542 of the PIK3CA gene. No mutations were found in the BRAF gene. The expression levels of ERCC1 and TUBB3 mRNAs were higher in patients with adenocarcinoma than those in patients with squamous cell carcinoma. The expression of TYMS mRNA in patients with adenocarcinoma was lower than that in patients with squamous cell carcinoma. In conclusion, mutations and mRNA expression of these commonly studied genes provides a basis for the selection of suitable molecular markers for individual treatment in a population with locally advanced NSCLC.
RESUMO
The aim of this study was to detect the pretreatment serum protein profiles of breast cancer patients by mass spectrometry (MS) to screen candidate tumor biomarkers, which will supply a simple, accurate, and minimally invasive method to predict the axillary lymph node metastasis of breast cancer. We used magnetic bead-based weak cation-exchange chromatography followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization time-of-flight MS to detect proteins in the sera of 54 cases of axillary node-negative breast cancer, 47 cases of axillary node-positive breast cancer, and 101 healthy controls. The protein profiles were analyzed to screen tumor biomarkers and lymph node metastasis-associated proteins to establish and verify a diagnostic model. Comparison of the protein profiles between the two cancer groups resulted in a total of 111 discriminate m/z peaks that were associated with breast cancer. Furthermore, 40 discriminate m/z peaks were detected between breast cancer patients with and without axillary node metastases. Four protein m/z peaks at 5,643, 4,651, 2,377, and 2,240 were used to construct a diagnosis model, and cross-validation indicated that breast cancer with and without axillary node metastasis was identified with 87.04% sensitivity (47/54), 87.23% specificity (41/47), and 87.13% accuracy (88/101). These proteins could potentially be used as predictive biomarkers to distinguish between breast cancer patients with or without lymph node metastasis.