The Impact of Chemotherapy on EGFR Mutation Status in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Emerging evidence indicates that chemotherapy for lung cancer may alter EGFR mutation status. However, whether chemotherapy as a firstline treatment may increase or reduce the frequency of EGFR mutations in NSCLC remains uncertain. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate whether chemotherapy leads to altered EGFR mutation status. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed using the PubMed, OVID, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, and CNKI databases for studies on preand post-chemotherapy EGFR mutation status. Relevant studies documenting perichemotherapy EGFR mutation ratios were included. Analyses of pooled odds ratios (OR) were performed. Results: Six studies involving 656 patients were included in this meta-analysis. It was found that chemotherapy may alter EGFR status (OR = 1.93, 95% CI 1.05 3.56; p < 0.0001). No significant differences in EGFR mutation alterations were observed in terms of gender, smoking history, EGFR loci, or chemotherapy response in NSCLC patients. Conclusions: Chemotherapy may contribute to altered EGFR status. NSCLC *Xiaoshun Shi and Fuxi Huang have contributed equally to this work and should be regarded as joint first authors. How to cite this paper: Shi, X.S., Huang, F.X., Chen, A.M., Wu, Z.L., Huang, Q.Q., Liang, Y., Zhou, Q.P., Mo, H.Y., Li, X.X. and Zhang, J.X. (2017) The Impact of Chemotherapy on EGFR Mutation Status in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: A Meta-Analysis. Open Journal of Genetics, 7, 117-129. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojgen.2017.74010 Received: October 11, 2017 Accepted: December 17, 2017 Published: December 21, 2017 Copyright © 2017 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/