Different gene alterations in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer between the eastern and southern China

Geographical differences are conspicuous in lung cancer, and the distinct molecular features of lung tumor between Western patients and Asian patients have been demonstrated. However, the etiology of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the distribution of associated molecular aberrations in China have not been fully elucidated. The mutational profiles of 12 lung cancer-related genes were investigated in 85 patients from eastern China and 88 patients from southern China who had been histologically confirmed NSCLC. Overall, 93.6% (162/173) of tumor samples harbored at least one somatic alteration. The most frequently mutated genes were TP53 (56.1%), EGFR (50.3%), and KRAS (14.5%). We found that EGFR mutated much more frequently (60.0% vs 40.9%, P = 0.012) and TP53 mutations had significantly lower incidence (47.1% vs 64.8%, P = 0.019) in eastern cohort than that in southern cohort. Mutational signature analysis revealed a region-related mutagenesis mechanism characterized by a high prevalence of C to T transitions mainly occurring at CpG dinucleotides in southern patients. This study reveals the difference in the mutational features between NSCLC patients in eastern and southern China. The distinct patterns of gene mutation could provide clues for the mechanism of carcinogenesis of lung cancer, offering opportunities to stratify patients into optimal treatment plans based on genomic profiles.