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Recent evidence indicates that the presence of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or KRAS mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can predict the response of the tumor to gefinitib. However, it is difficult to detect these mutations using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues because the fixation process and aging can damage the DNA. In this study, we describe our work in adapting the Smart Amplification Process version 2 (SmartAmp2) to detect EGFR or KRAS mutations in DNA extracted from FFPE tissues. We were able to detect these mutations in 37 (97%) of 38 FFPE lung cancer tissue samples within 60 minutes with the SmartAmp2 assay and to confirm the correlation between EGFR mutations in FFPE tissues and gefitinib responsiveness. All mutations had previously been confirmed in the 38 samples using DNA extracted from frozen tissues. Electrophoresis results indicated that PCR analysis was not reliable for DNA extracted from FFPE tissue when primers with a long amplicon (>300 bp) were used. This study confirms that the SmartAmp2 assay is suitable for use with DNA extracted from FFPE as well as frozen tissues.

Previously, the smart amplification process version 2 (SMAP-2) was developed to detect mutations from tissue and in crude cell lysates and has been used for rapid diagnosis of specific somatic mutations with single-nucleotide precision. The purpose of this study was to develop a rapid and practical method to detect cancer and metastasis in specimens using the SMAP-2 assay. We developed modified SMAP-2 assays that enabled detection of any change in a single codon using a single assay. Rapid SMAP-2 screening assays are suitable for routine clinical identification of critical amino acid substitutions such as codon 12 mutations in KRAS. Primers bracketing the first two nucleotides of KRAS codon 12 were designed so that all possible alleles would be amplified by the SMAP-2 assay. In combination with the peptide nucleic acid (PNA) with exact homology to the wild-type allele, our assay amplified all mutant alleles except for the wild-type sequence. With this new assay design (termed PNA-clamp SMAP-2), we could detect KRAS mutations within 60 minutes, including sample preparation. We compared results from PNA-clamp SMAP-2 assay, polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism, and direct sequencing of clinical samples from pancreatic cancer patients and demonstrated perfect concordance. The PNA-clamp SMAP-2 method is a rapid, simple, and highly sensitive detection assay for cancer mutations.