Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Mutations in Resectable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients and their Potential Role in the Immune Landscape

BACKGROUND The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a therapeutic target for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but knowledge on gene mutations that contribute to NSCLC development and persistence is lacking. In this study, we investigated genetic variations in EGFR and their association with the clinical and pathological factors of NSCLC. MATERIAL AND METHODS Clinical cases (331 patients) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cases (1040 patients) were selected and analyzed using the refractory mutation systems cBioPortal and the Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER). RESULTS EGFR mutation frequencies were 54.4% (180 of 331 patients) and 8.0% (83 of 1040 patients) in the clinical and TCGA cohorts, respectively. EGFR mutations were strongly associated with smoking and pathology (P≤0.05) in the clinical cohort, and with gender, smoking, and pathology (P=0.001, P