Investigation of the EGFR gene variations in bladder cancer patients using INFINITI TM Analyzer [Mesane kanseri hastalarinda EGFR geni varyantlarinin INFINITI TM ile incelenmesi]

Dysregulation of epidermal growth factor receptor (egfr),which leads to increased proliferation,is a common event in most cancers. since its recognition as a keyplayer in carcinogenesis,several anti-egfr agents have been developed as chemotherapeutic agents. studies investigating the effect of egfr mutations on the activity of anti-egfr agents resulted in the discovery of a number of cancer tissue-specific mutations which either increase or decrease sensitivity to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (tki). determination of these mutations is essential to prognostic processes,but is limited to tissue availability. being able to determine tumour specific egfr mutations by using blood sample as the genotyping material will eliminate the need for invasive techniques. this study is the first step of a wider research with the final goal of matching mutations in tumour tissues with that of normal somatic cells from the same individuals. all the known exon 18-21 mutations were screened in 48 bladder cancer patients with infiniti tm analyzer using leukocytes as the dna source. however,none of the investigated mutations have been detected in the genomic dna samples of bladder cancer patients.