Tyrosine kinase domain gene polymorphism of epidermal growth factor receptor in gastric cancer in northern Iran

Gastric cancer is one of the most common diseases of digestive system with a low 5-year survival rate and metastasis is the main cause of death. Multi-factors, such as changes in molecular pathways and deregulation of cells are involved in the disease development. Epidermal growth factor receptor pathway (EGFR) which is associated with cell proliferation and survival can influence cancer development. EGFR function is governed by its genetic polymorphism; thus, we aimed to study the tyrosine kinase domain gene mutations of the receptor in patients with gastric cancer. In this experimental study, 123 subjects (83 patients with gastric cancer and 40 normal subjects) were investigated in north of Iran for EGFR gene polymorphisms during 1 year. Genomic DNA was extracted by DNA extraction kit according to the manufacture's protocol. Polymerase chain reaction single-stranded conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) and silver staining were performed for investigating EGFR gene polymorphisms. The participants included 72 men and 44 women. Gene polymorphism in exon 18 was present in 10% of the study population but SSCP pattern in exon 19 did not show different migrate bands neither in patients nor in normal subjects. It seems that screening for tyrosine kinas gene polymorphism of epidermal growth factor receptor in patients with gastric cancer and use of tyrosine kinas inhibitors could be useful in the prevention of disease progress and improvement of treatment process for a better quality of life in these patients.