Lung cancer is among the most common cancers worldwide. Data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer indicate that it is the second most common cancer worldwide with an incidence of 2,206,771 cases in 2020 after breast cancer. It is the most common cause of cancer related mortality with estimated 1.8 million lung cancer related deaths in 2020 according to the WHO. Over time, various oncogenic driver mutations have been discovered in non-small cell lung cancer. This has made it possible to categorize this disease into therapeutically useful molecular subgroups, leading to the creation of target therapies that have resulted in better clinical outcomes. These genetic mutations include EGFR, ALK, ROS 1, KRAS, BRAF, HER 2, NTRK, MET and RET alterations. Studies have shown that the prevalence of some genetic markers may vary with race and ethnicity with majority of previous studies having been done on the Caucasian population.
AIM:
The primary objective of this study was to find out the genetic profiles of NSCLC patients seen in Alexandria University Clinical Oncology Department, Egypt. The secondary objectives were to evaluate the prevalence of various genetic profiles, to determine the clinicopathological characteristics as well as to estimate survival in these patients.