Aim: To investigate the relationship between mutations of key genes in the EGFR signaling pathway and the prognosis of stage II colorectal cancer patients without chemotherapy.
Materials & methods: The incidence of KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA mutations and deficient DNA mismatch repair were assessed in 160 stage II colorectal cancer patients who had been treated by radical operation without adjuvant chemotherapy.
Results: Mutations in KRAS, BRAF or PIK3CA were associated with poor prognosis, while the deficient DNA mismatch repair status was not associated with the prognosis. Combining these three markers, the sensitivity of the predicted value for poor progression-free survival and overall survival reached 0.645 (p = 0.002) and 0.709 (p = 0.001), respectively.
Conclusion: Knowing the mutation status of KRAS, BRAF or PIK3CA in stage II colorectal cancer can significantly improve the accuracy of prognoses.
Keywords: genes mutation; prognostic factors; stage II colorectal cancer.