Background: Current metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) therapy uses monoclonal antibodies against the epidermal growth factor receptor. This treatment is only useful in the absence of K-RAS gene mutations; therefore the study of such mutations is part of a personalized treatment. The aim of this work is to determine the frequency and type of the most common K-RAS mutations in Mexican patients with metastatic disease by nucleotide sequencing.
Patients and methods: We studied 888 patients with mCRC from different regions of Mexico. The presence of mutations in exon 2, codons 12 and 13, of the K-RAS gene was determined by nucleotide sequencing.
Results: Patients exhibited K-RAS gene mutations in 35% (310/888) of cases. Mutation frequency of codons 12 and 13 was 71% (221/310) and 29% (89/310), respectively. The most common mutation (45.7%) in codon 12 was c.35G>A (p.G12D), whereas the one in codon 13 was c.38G>A (p.G13D) (78.7%).
Discussion: Given the frequency of K-RAS mutations in Mexicans, making a genetic study before deciding to treat mCRC patients with monoclonal antibodies is indispensable.