Next-generation sequencing of non-small cell lung cancer at a Quebec health care cancer centre

Abstract

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. Quebec has the highest lung cancer mortality out of all provinces in Canada, believed to be caused by higher smoking rates. Molecular testing for lung cancer is standard of care due to the discovery of actionable driver mutations that can be targeted with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. To date, no detailed molecular testing characterization of Quebec patients with lung cancer using next generation sequencing (NGS) has been performed.

Materials and methods: The aim of this study was to describe the genomic landscape of patients with lung cancer (n = 997) who underwent NGS molecular testing at a tertiary care center in Quebec and to correlate it with clinical and pathology variables.

Results: Compared to 10 other NGS studies found through a structured search strategy, our cohort had a higher prevalence of KRAS mutations (39.2%) compared to most geographical locations. Additionally, we observed a significant positive association between decreasing age and a higher proportion of KRAS G12C mutations.

Conclusion: Overall, it remains important to assess institutional rates of actionable driver mutations to help guide governing bodies, fuel clinical trials and create benchmarks for expected rates as quality metrics.

Keywords: Canada; Lung cancer; Mutations; NGS; NSCLC; Next-generation sequencing.