Evaluation of PAP in EGFR Mutational Testing in Advanced NSCLC: a Comparative Study.

BACKGROUND: EGFR mutational testing is crucial for advanced non-squamous NSCLC. PAP is a sensitive and selective method to detect rare mutations. METHODS: Eighty-five patients with non-squamous NSCLC were enrolled in this study. A set of paired plasma samples from each patient were collected and detected by PAP and ARMS. RESULTS: Of 85 paired samples, 78.8% (67/85) presented the same mutational status by the two methods. There was no statistically significant difference between the mutation frequencies in plasma samples detected with PAP and ARMS (p = 0.096). CONCLUSIONS: PAP technology appears to be an alternative choice with relatively high sensitivity for the detection of plasma EGFR mutations.