Association between epidermal growth factor receptor mutation status, clinicopathological characteristics and TTF-1 expression in lung adenocarcinoma – a single center study

Abstract

Introduction/Objective The presence of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations is the best predictor of response for therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. In this study, we investigate association between EGFR mutations and clinicopathological characteristics and thyroid transcription factor (TTF-1) expression in lung adenocarcinomas (AD).

Methods We analyzed 142 surgical samples from patients with histologically confirmed lung AD from January 2010 to December 2015. All tumor tissues were reclassified according to the World Health Organization criteria and EGFR mutations detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction. TTF-1 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry in 83 out of 142 cases. The association between EGFR and TTF-1 expression was analyzed using the χ2 test or Fisher’s exact test with SPSS software version 20.0.

Results This study included 78 male and 64 women with a median age of 61.6 (range, 42–82) years. Acinar (ACN) and solid (SOL) were the most common histological types (47.9% and 38.7%, respectively). TTF-1 expression was present in 69 of 83 (83%) ADs. The EGFR mutation was found in 7%, more frequently in women, and patients with smoking history, and acinar type of AD, whereas it had no association with age and pathological stage and TTF-1 expression.

Conclusion In conclusion, the results of this study demonstrate that the presence of EGFR mutations is associated with some clinical characteristics and histologic type of ADs, but not with TTF-1 expression.

Keywords: adenocarcinoma; EGFR mutation; clinicopathological characteristics; TTF-1 expression