Clinical utility of plasma EGFR mutation detection with quantitative PCR in advanced lung cancer: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the clinical utility of quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays, a routinely used test for detection of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation in circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in treatment-naive advanced lung cancer patients. Materials and Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with individual patient data. Eligible RCTs compared EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) and chemotherapy in first line setting for advanced lung cancer, and included tumour EGFR+ (tEGFR+) with paired ctDNA results using real-time (quantitative) PCR. We assessed the proportion of tEGFR + detected by ctDNA, and compared the effectiveness of EGFR-TKI ve..