Detection of epidermal growth factor receptor exon 21 mutations in tissue and plasma in 23 cases of non-small cell lung cancer

Objective To develop a novel method for detecting the exon 21 mutations of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) from the non-small cell lung cancer patients' plasma.Methods The tissue samples and plasma of 32 non-small cell lung cancer patients were collected simultaneously,the results of detecting the exon 21 mutations of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR)from plasma compare with that from the tissue sample by the method of mutant-enriched PCR.Results Eight cases of the exon 21 mutation of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) from 23 were detected from tissue samples,7 cases of the exon 21 mutation of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) can be detected from plasma.Conclusions The EGFR mutation can be detected in plasma from patients with non-small lung cancer,the exon 21 mutations of EGFR can be detected by this method.