ERBB family member epidermal receptor tyrosine kinase (EGFR) is composed of 28 exons and 27 introns. EGFR codes for 11 transcripts and 8 of them are protein coding. EGFR is a transmembrane glycoprotein that can be activated by several different ligands such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factor-alpha (TGFA), heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HBEGF), betacellulin (BTC), amphiregulin (AREG), epiregulin (EREG), and epigen (EPGN) (Singh, 2016). Ligand binding induces the dimerization of EGFR and autophosphorylation followed by a cascade of downstream phosphorylation events (Capuani et al., 2015). EGFR activation plays a key role in cell survival, proliferation, migration and differentiation (Purba, 2017).

Sorting Nexin 3 (SNX3) gene maps to chromosome 6, minus strand and has 4 exons and 3 introns. There are 3 alternatively spliced isoforms (transcripts). SNX3 is a member of the sorting nexin family. Members of this family generally have BAR domains and phosphoinositide binding regions called the phox (PX) domain, and are involved in intracellular trafficking. Unlike other sorting nexins, SNX3 does not contain a BAR domain. SNX3 protein interacts with phosphatidylinositol-3phosphates, and is involved in protein trafficking through its role in the retromer complex.