Driver genes as predictive indicators of brain metastasis in patients with advanced NSCLC: EGFR, ALK, and RET gene mutations

BACKGROUND: A retrospective analysis verified the role of gene mutations in brain metastasis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Data from 552 patients with advanced NSCLC treated from January 2015 to June 2017 in the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University were retrospectively analyzed. Next-generation sequencing was used to detect mutations in eight reported driver genes and various risk factors were evaluated. RESULTS: Of the 552 patients with advanced NSCLC, 153 (27.7%) had brain metastases. The univariate analysis showed that age (P = .008), gender (P = .016), smoking history (P = .010), lymph node metastasis (P = .003), and three driver genes, positive epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation (P = .001), positive anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene fusion (P = .021), and positive rearranged during transfection (RET) gene fusion (P = .003), were the factors influencing the incidence of brain metastasis. Logistic multivariate regression analysis revealed that positive EGFR mutation (P = .012), positive ALK gene fusion (P = .015), positive RET gene fusion (P = .003), pathological type (P = .009), lymph node N2-3 metastasis (P < .001), and a younger age (P < .001) were independent risk factors for brain metastasis. In addition, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted with the above factors with an area under the curve = 0.705 (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: An EGFR mutation, ALK gene fusion, and RET gene fusion in advanced NSCLC patients play roles in brain metastasis as positive driver genes. IMPACT: An EGFR mutation, and ALK and RET gene fusions are risk factors for brain metastasis in advanced NSCLC patients.