Abstract

Non-Small Cell Lung cancer samples from the European Early Lung Cancer biobank were analysed to assess the prognostic significance of mutations in TP53, KRAS and EGFR genes.The series included 11 never smokers, 86 former smokers, 152 current smokers and 1 patient without smoking status informed. There were 110 Squamous Cell Carcinomas (SCC), 133 ADenoCarcinoma (ADC) and 7 Large Cell Carcinoma or mixed histologies. Expression of p53 protein was analysed by immunohistochemistry. DNA was extracted from frozen tumour tissues.TP53 mutations were detected in 48.8% of cases and were more frequent among SCC than ADC (p<0.0001). TP53 mutation status was not associated with prognosis. G to T transversions, known to be associated with smoking, were marginally more common among patients who developed a second-primary lung cancer or recurrence/metastasis (Progressive Disease). EGFR mutations were almost exclusively found in never smoking females (p=0.0067). KRAS mutations were detected in 18.5% of cases, mainly ADC (p<0.0001), and showed a tendency for association with Progressive Disease status.These results suggest that mutations are good markers of different aetiologies and histopathological forms of lung cancers but have little prognostic value, with the exception of KRAS mutation which may have a prognostic value in ADC.