Prevalence and prognostic role of PIK3CA E545K mutation in Iranian colorectal cancer patients

AIM: This study aimed to evaluate the distribution of PIK3CA E545K mutation in Iranian CRC patients and explored its roles in disease prognosis. BACKGROUND: Deregulation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway contributes to the progression of tumors. The p110a (PIK3CA), a catalytic subunit of PIK3, is mutated in many types of cancers. Exon 9 (E545K) is the most frequently mutated hotspot in PIK3CA in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the prognostic role of PIK3CA E545K mutation needs to be elucidated. METHODS: Tumors from 187 CRC patients were retrospectively collected from the Taleghani and Shohada Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, between 2010 and 2017. PIK3CA E545K status was detected in Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues using PCR-RFLP methods, and validated by pyrosequencing. Correlations between PIK3CA E545K mutation clinicopathological features were analyzed. RESULTS: The frequency of PIK3CA E545K gene mutations in CRC patients was 10.7%. Significant correlations were observed in PIK3CA E545K mutation with tumor differentiation and TNM stage (p < 0.042 and p = 0.033, respectively). Kaplan–Meier analysis showed a worse prognosis in overall survival (OS) in patients with PIK3CA E545K mutation (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis indicated that PIK3CA E545K mutation was a detrimental factor for OS (HR = 6.497, 95% CI: 2.859-14.768, p < 0.021). CONCLUSION: A high frequency of PIK3CA E545K mutation was detected in Iranian CRC patients. The results of the present study suggested that PIK3CA E545K mutation may be associated with poor prognosis. These findings require further confirmation via prospective studies with larger samples.