Gazdar Adi F, Shigematsu Hisayuki, Herz Joachim, Minna John D
Hamon Centre for Therapeutic Oncology Research, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
Trends Mol Med. 2004 Oct;10(10):481-6. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2004.08.008.
The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene product is a receptor tyrosine kinase (TK) that affects many important downstream pathways. The recent finding that mutations in EGFR predict the response of lung cancers to therapies that target the TK domain of the gene product has generated considerable interest. The mutations are associated with adenocarcinoma histology, oriental origin, female gender and never-smoker status. Most mutations target structures in the TK domain that appear to be essential for the phosphorylation function of the gene. Cancer cells with mutant EGFR genes might become physiologically dependent on the continued activity of the gene for the maintenance of their malignant phenotype; however, this might also be a target for therapy.
表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）基因产物是一种受体酪氨酸激酶（TK），它影响许多重要的下游信号通路。最近的研究发现，EGFR基因突变可预测肺癌对针对该基因产物TK结构域的治疗的反应，这一发现引起了广泛关注。这些突变与腺癌组织学、东方人种、女性性别以及从不吸烟的状态相关。大多数突变靶向TK结构域中对于该基因的磷酸化功能似乎至关重要的结构。具有突变EGFR基因的癌细胞在生理上可能依赖于该基因的持续活性来维持其恶性表型；然而，这也可能成为治疗靶点。
