Epidermal growth factor receptor mutation and diverse tumors: case report and concise literature review

We document an EGFR mutation in a patient with papillary renal cell cancer with a history of multiple therapies, including interferon-alpha, interleukin-2, 5-fluorouracil, and interferon-alpha together with 13-cis-retinoic acid, to which floxuridine was later added, and thalidomide maintenance therapy for six years. We provide a succinct review of the PubMed-derived literature on EGFR mutations in diverse tumors, which indicates that a subset of patients with various tumor types may harbor EGFR mutations. A 32-year old woman with sporadic, metastatic papillary renal cancer was found to harbor an EGFR kinase domain mutation in addition to the MET kinase mutation typically found in this disease. Since lung cancer patients with EGFR mutations often respond well to EGFR inhibitor therapy and EGFR mutations occur in a variety of tumors, it should be worthwhile to assess EGFR status prospectively in other tumors and study the results of treatment with EGFR inhibitors in these patients.