| The presence of short in-frame deletions in the EGFR gene has been shown to correlate with increased sensitivity to small molecular inhibitors of EGFR in non-small cell lung cancer. The most prevalent EGFR mutations are in-frame deletions in exon 19 and the 2573T>G point mutation in exon 21 resulting in the Leu858Arg amino acid substitution in the EGFR kinase domain. These two classes of mutation together account for 80-90% of EGFR mutations in non-small cell lung cancer.
Our assay was developed to identify exon 19 in-frame deletions and exon 21 2573T>G (Leu858Arg) EGFR mutations using a PCR-based technique. The EGFR exon 19 deletion assay consists of PCR amplification followed by capillary electrophoresis fragment analysis. The EGFR exon 21 Leu858Arg mutation is detected by PCR amplification followed by restriction enzyme digestion and capillary electrophoresis fragment analysis. |
