KRAS Mutations: A Possible Biomarker for Advanced Prostate Cancer

Abstract

Prostate cancer is an important type of cancer in males with the highest mortality rate after the lung cancer, especially in industrialized countries. RAS oncogenes, originating from proto-oncogenes with point mutations, play an important role in cancer cell proliferation. The RAS proto-oncogene mutations occur in 25% of human cancers. The aim of the study was to investigate the potential mutation of KRAS gene at exon 2 (codons 12/13), exon 3 (codon 61) and exon 4 (codon 117/146) in Turkish patients with prostate cancer. The case group was comprised of 45 paraffin-embedded prostate cancer tissues. The control group was comprised of 20 healthy samples. The mutation analysis was performed by using PCR-based High Resolution Melting (HRM) analysis. The DNA samples of case and control groups were isolated and evaluated by HRM. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used to evaluate the relationship between mutations in KRAS gene and prostate cancer. p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. There were mutations in exon 2 (1 patient) and exon 3 (3 patients) of KRAS. In exon 4, no mutations were determined. The results of this study suggest that exon 2 and exon 3 mutations in KRAS gene may be effective in the development of prostate cancer. In addition, the results of this study may provide insight into the efficacy of anti-EGFR treatment on cases without KRAS mutation.

KRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA mutation frequency of radical prostatectomy samples and review of the literature

“…Two studies have analyzed KRAS mutations in PCa in Turkey. Vural et al [41] reported a rate of 8.8%, similar to the current study. Besides, gene regions in which KRAS mutations occurred (exon 2, codon 12/13; exon 3, codon 61) were similar to our study.…”

Analysis of exosome-derived microRNAs reveals insights of intercellular communication during invasion of breast, prostate and glioblastoma cancer cells

“…More specifically, a decreased glycerophosphocholine (GPC) to phosphocholine (PC) ratio was reported in breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers [ 67 ], suggesting a tumor suppressor role for this gene in cancer. The NRAS gene is a well know oncogene in cancer that encodes for a GTP binding intracellular protein that interacts with the EGFR receptor and in 2018 has proposed as a possible biomarker for advanced prostate cancer [ 68 ].…”