Mutation of the gene as a prognostic factor in patients with colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, with ~700,000 mortalities occurring due to CRC in 2012. The treatment options are effective in a small percentage of patients, and it is important to identify specific biomarkers in order to determine patients for whom the available therapies will be beneficial. It has been hypothesised that the gene mutation may affect the response to therapy of patients with metastatic CRC. In the present study, primary tumour specimens were collected from 156 patients with CRC who were treated in the Military Institute of Medicine in Warsaw (Warsaw, Poland). Codons 12 and 13 of exon 1 of , exons 11 and 15 of and exons 9 and 20 of were analysed for mutation using direct sequencing. The prognostic value of each mutation and the clinical and pathological variables of these tumours were estimated. The results revealed that mutations were present in 15 patients (9.6%), of whom seven (46.7%) possessed mutations in codon 9 and eight (53.3%) possessed mutations in codon 20. Mutation in the gene was detected in six patients with gene mutations, which accounted for 40% of -mutated tumours, and in one patient with mutations, which accounted for 6.6% of -mutated tumours. No significant differences were identified between the overall survival (OS) rates of patients with mutations (median OS, 56.7 months) and those with wild-type genes (median OS, 47.6 months) (P=0.1270). Univariate analysis identified that the following prognostic factors affected the OS rate in the current patient cohort: Gender, female patients survived for 57.5 months compared with 39.3 months for male patients (P=0.0111); and lymph node involvement grade, as survival of patients without lymph node metastases was 61.4 months compared with 45.4 months in patients presenting with metastases (P=0.0122). The findings of the present analysis indicate that mutation status is not a prognostic factor in CRC patients. In addition, no statistically significant association exists between tumours with mutations and clinical or pathological factors.