Studies have shown that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling is important to normal development and neoplastic transformation, and that EGFR inhibition reduces cancer cell proliferation. The promising response rates of the EGFR inhibitor gefitinib in patients with chemotherapy-refractory non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) led to its approval for clinical use. However, there was little understanding of why gefitinib was effective in only some NSCLC patients. Two recent studies have identified somatic mutations in EGFR that confer its sensitivity to gefitinib in vitro and correlate strongly with patients' clinical response to the inhibitor.

中文翻译：

---

表皮生长因子受体抑制剂的预测因子-靶心击中箭头。

研究表明，表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）信号对于正常发育和肿瘤转化很重要，并且EGFR抑制作用可降低癌细胞的增殖。EGFR抑制剂吉非替尼在化疗难治性非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）患者中的有希望的缓解率使该药物被批准用于临床。然而，对于为什么吉非替尼仅对某些NSCLC患者有效的了解很少。最近的两项研究发现了EGFR的体细胞突变，这些突变赋予其对吉非替尼的体外敏感性，并与患者对该抑制剂的临床反应密切相关。