Journal of Pathology and Translational Medicine

Original Articles

Comparison of tissue-based and plasma-based testing for EGFR mutation in non–small cell lung cancer patients: Yoon Kyung Kang, Dong Hoon Shin, Joon Young Park, Chung Su Hwang, Hyun Jung Lee, Jung Hee Lee, Jee Yeon Kim, JooYoung Na; J Pathol Transl Med. 2025;59(1):60-67. Published online January 15, 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4132/jptm.2024.10.01

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Abstract PDF: Background
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutation testing is crucial for the administration of tyrosine kinase inhibitors to treat non–small cell lung cancer. In addition to traditional tissue-based tests, liquid biopsies using plasma are increasingly utilized, particularly for detecting T790M mutations. This study compared tissue- and plasma-based EGFR testing methods.
Methods
A total of 248 patients were tested for EGFR mutations using tissue and plasma samples from 2018 to 2023 at Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital. Tissue tests were performed using PANAmutyper, and plasma tests were performed using the Cobas EGFR Mutation Test v2.
Results
All 248 patients underwent tissue-based EGFR testing, and 245 (98.8%) showed positive results. Of the 408 plasma tests, 237 (58.1%) were positive. For the T790M mutation, tissue biopsies were performed 87 times in 69 patients, and 30 positive cases (38.6%) were detected. Plasma testing for the T790M mutation was conducted 333 times in 207 patients, yielding 62 positive results (18.6%). Of these, 57 (27.5%) were confirmed to have the mutation via plasma testing. Combined tissue and plasma tests for the T790M mutation were positive in nine patients (13.4%), while 17 (25.4%) were positive in tissue only and 12 (17.9%) in plasma only. This mutation was not detected in 28 patients (43.3%).
Conclusions
Although the tissue- and plasma-based tests showed a sensitivity of 37.3% and 32.8%, respectively, combined testing increased the detection rate to 56.7%. Thus, neither test demonstrated superiority, rather, they were complementary.

Landscape of EGFR mutations in lung adenocarcinoma: a single institute experience with comparison of PANAMutyper testing and targeted next-generation sequencing: Jeonghyo Lee, Yeon Bi Han, Hyun Jung Kwon, Song Kook Lee, Hyojin Kim, Jin-Haeng Chung; J Pathol Transl Med. 2022;56(5):249-259. Published online September 13, 2022; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4132/jptm.2022.06.11

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Background
Activating mutations in the tyrosine kinase domain of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are predictive biomarkers for response to EGFR–tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Here, we characterized the clinicopathologic features associated with EGFR mutations via peptide nucleic acid clamping-assisted fluorescence melting curve analysis (PANAMutyper) and evaluated the feasibility of targeted deep sequencing for detecting the mutations.
Methods
We examined EGFR mutations in exons 18 through 21 for 2,088 LUADs from July 2017 to April 2020 using PANAMutyper. Of these, we performed targeted deep sequencing in 73 patients and evaluated EGFR-mutation status and TKI clinical response.
Results
EGFR mutation was identified in 55.7% of LUADs by PANAMutyper, with mutation rates higher in females (69.3%) and never smokers (67.1%) and highest in the age range of 50 to 59 years (64.9%). For the 73 patients evaluated using both methods, next-generation sequencing (NGS) identified EGFR mutation–positive results in 14 of 61 patients (23.0%) who were EGFR-negative according to PANAMutyper testing. Of the 10 patients reportedly harboring a sensitizing mutation according to NGS, seven received TKI treatment, with all showing partial response or stable disease. In the 12 PANAMutyper-positive cases, NGS identified two additional mutations in exon 18, whereas a discordant negative result was observed in two cases.
Conclusions
Although PANAMutyper identified high frequencies of EGFR mutations, targeted deep sequencing revealed additional uncommon EGFR mutations. These findings suggested that appropriate use of NGS may benefit LUAD patients with otherwise negative screening test results.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Comparison of tissue-based and plasma-based testing for EGFR mutation in non–small cell lung cancer patients
Yoon Kyung Kang, Dong Hoon Shin, Joon Young Park, Chung Su Hwang, Hyun Jung Lee, Jung Hee Lee, Jee Yeon Kim, JooYoung Na
Journal of Pathology and Translational Medicine.2025; 59(1): 60. CrossRef
Localization of epidermal growth factor receptor-mutations using PNA:DNA probes in clinical specimens from patients with non-small cell lung cancer
Haruo Miyata, Hajime Shigeto, Tomoatsu Ikeya, Tadashi Ashizawa, Akira Iizuka, Yasufumi Kikuchi, Chie Maeda, Akari Kanematsu, Kazue Yamashita, Kenichi Urakami, Yuji Shimoda, Takeshi Nagashima, Keiichi Ohshima, Yasuhisa Ohde, Mitsuhiro Isaka, Takashi Sugino
Scientific Reports.2025;[Epub] CrossRef
Molecular characteristics and responses to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer patients with EGFR exon 19 insertions
Yang Li, Yunfeng Ni, Feng Lv, Yan Shi, Yedan Chen, Xiaoying Wu, Jiaohui Pang, Long Huang, Yang Shao, Tao Wang, Jie Min, Yang Song
BMC Medicine.2025;[Epub] CrossRef
Detection of EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations in non-small cell lung cancer: implications for consistent nomenclature in precision medicine
Jieun Park, Boram Lee, Ji-Young Song, Minjung Sung, Mi Jeong Kwon, Chae Rin Kim, Sangjin Lee, Young Kee Shin, Yoon-La Choi
Pathology.2024; 56(5): 653. CrossRef
Histo-pillar strip for optimal histogel block construction and biomarker analysis in 3D-lung cancer patient-derived organoids
Sang-Yun Lee, Eunyoung Lee, Ji-O Ryu, Kyuhwan Kim, Yongki Hwang, Bosung Ku, Seok Whan Moon, Mi Hyoung Moon, Kyung Soo Kim, Kwanyong Hyun, Jeong Uk Lim, Chan Kwon Park, Sung Won Kim, Chang Dong Yeo, Dong Woo Lee, Seung Joon Kim
Biofabrication.2024; 16(4): 045017. CrossRef

Case Study

A case of concomitant EGFR/ALK alteration against a mutated EGFR background in early-stage lung adenocarcinoma: Ki-Chang Lee, Jiwon Koh, Doo Hyun Chung, Yoon Kyung Jeon; J Pathol Transl Med. 2021;55(2):139-144. Published online January 22, 2021; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4132/jptm.2020.12.16

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