Molecular analysis of GISTs: evaluation of sequencing and dHPLC.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and are characterized by mutations in the proto-oncogene KIT (c-kit). To date, the detection of genomic alterations of the c-kit gene has been based mostly on direct sequencing. However, sequencing is an expensive and time-consuming approach.