Methods for EGFR variants analysis in NSCLC patients

Abstract

Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of death in the world. NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer) is the predominant form of LC. In the last decade, research and treatment of NSCLC are improved based on molecular analyses used for the determination of the EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) variants. To update the findings from the search we performed ten years ago using just the PubMed database, we recently used 3 electronic databases: Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus. The aim was to reveal the most often used methods to detect EGFR variants for NSCLC diagnostics, as well as to see the application of new techniques in the last ten years. In the first search from 2000-2011 within 292 papers were identified as eligible, and among various methods, PCR methods were identified in 45.2%. Results from a recent search showed that among 987 selected articles published from 2010-2020 showed that PCR methods were identified in 73.05%. Usage of methods for clinical diagnosis depends on many factors, prevalently economic circumstances. The methods of choice for EGFR variant identification are PCR combined with direct DNA sequencing. Keywords: PCR, EGFR, NSCLC, lung cancer