Molecular characteristics of non-small cell lung cancer with reduced CHFR expression in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project

Summary Background CHFR expression has previously been established as a powerful predictor for response to taxane based first-line chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer. It is currently unknown however, if reduced CHFR expression correlates with certain molecular subtypes of lung cancer. Purpose In order to determine which patients may benefit from CHFR biomarker testing we conducted the present study to characterize clinical and molecular characteristics of patients with reduced vs. high CHFR expression. Approach We utilized the extensive molecular and clinical data of the most recent adeno- and squamous cell carcinoma datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project. CHFR expression, analyzed by RNA-seq, was classified as high vs. low based on the median CHFR expression level and correlated with the presence or absence of lung cancer specific mutations (EGFR, KRAS, ALK, MET, ERBB2, TP53, STK11, ROS1, RET, NF1, Pik3CA for adenocarcinomas and FGFR1, FGFR2, FGFR3, TP53, STK11, EGFR for squamous cell carcinomas). Results Reduced CHFR expression was associated with EGFR exon19/21 mutations in adenocarcinoma OR 0.23 (95%CI: 0.06–0.88) and male gender in squamous cell carcinoma (OR 0.46 (95%CI 0.23–0.92), p = 0.02).