Mayank Jauhri, Vani Gupta, Yogender Shokeen, Sachin Minhas, Sunita Bhalla and Shyam Aggarwal
Aim: This study aims to find out the frequency of KDR mutation in colorectal cancer patients and if any correlation exists between KDR mutation and demographical features or with other common and uncommon gene mutations occurring in colon cancer.
Methods: FFPE samples of 112 patients were analyzed using next generation sequencing.
Results: KDR gene was found to be mutated most frequently (19.6%). As compared to other uncommon gene mutations occurring among patients. 21/22 patients had the p.Q472H type of KDR mutation. It was significantly associated with mutations in PTEN (p=0.003), KRAS (p=0.026), APC (p=0.033), EGFR (p=0.036), NOTCH1 (p=0.029) and ERBB4 (p=0.008) mutations. More number of males (22.06%) harbored KDR mutations than the number of females (15.9%). A higher number of KDR mutations in Stage III (31%) as compared to other stages – I-II (19.23%) and IV (7.31%) was reported. KDR mutations were found to be in greater number in patients with lymph node metastasis (27.3%) as compared to liver metastasis (8%). However, a statistically significant association of any clinical parameter was not found.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that although KDR is a rare somatic mutation in CRC, it plays a pivotal role in the development of colon cancer via angiogenesis pathway.