Clinical usefulness of K-RAS mutation detection in colorectal cancer and in surgical margins of the colon

The incidence of K-RAS gene mutations in tumour and surgical margins was investigated in 63 patients with adenocarcinomas of varied clinical stage and histological grade. Point mutations of codon 12 K-RAS gene were detected, using the PCR-RFPL technique in cancer tissue in 23 patients (36.5%) and in colon margin mucosa in 1 patient (3.7%), out of 27 examined subjects. No significant correlations were found between the mutations and clinical features. Tumours, located in the left colon, and mucinous neoplasms displayed a higher incidence of mutations. No correlation was observed with either Dukes or TMN clinical advancement.