Associations between primary tumor RAS, BRAF and PIK3CA mutation status and metastatic site in patients with chemo-resistant metastatic colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have investigated correlations between metastatic pattern and mutation status in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). However, most of the studies were small and heterogeneously designed and further research is needed to confirm previous results. In this study, we investigated the association between RAS (KRAS or NRAS), BRAF, PIK3CA mutations and metastatic pattern in patients with metastatic (m) CRC.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study reviewed Danish biobank and database of patients with mCRC who received cetuximab and irinotecan, independent of RAS mutation status, after fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin and irinotecan treatment failure. The database contained information regarding tumor mutation status of KRAS, NRAS, BRAF and PIK3CA genes.

RESULTS: Totally, 448 patients were included. On multivariate analyses, RAS mutations were significantly associated with increased odds of having lung metastases at diagnosis of mCRC (odds ratio (OR) = 2.04; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.32-3.17), and PIK3CA mutations with decreased odds of peritoneal metastases at diagnosis of mCRC (OR = 0.10; 95%CI = 0.01-0.79). On multivariate analyses of the hazard of developing metastases at any time during follow-up, RAS mutations were significantly associated with increased hazard of lung (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.34; 95%CI = 1.04-1.72) and ovarian metastases (HR = 3.12; 95%CI = 1.05-9.24), BRAF V600E mutation was associated with increased hazard of skin metastases (HR = 6.82; 95%CI = 1.86-25.02) and PIK3CA mutations with decreased hazard of peritoneal metastases (HR = 0.31; 95%CI = 0.11-0.86).

CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated that in patients with mCRC, RAS mutations are associated with increased risk of lung and ovary metastases. BRAF V600E is associated with increased risk of skin metastases, and PIK3CA mutation with decreased risk of peritoneal metastases.