Wide Next-Generation Sequencing Characterization of Young Adults Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Molecular characterization of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is mandatory before any treatment decision making. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches represent the best strategy in this context. The turnaround time for NGS methodologies and the related costs are becoming more and more adaptable for their use in clinical practice. In our study, we analyzed a case series of young (under 65 years old) NSCLC patients with a wide NGS gene panel assay. The most frequent altered genes were TP53 (64.55%), followed by KRAS (44.1%), STK11 (26.9%), CDKN2A (21.5%), CDKN2B (14.0%), EGFR (16.1%), and RB1 (10.8%). Tumor mutational burden (TMB) was also evaluated. Considering the cut-off of 10 mut/Mb, 62 (68.9%) patients showed a TMB < 10 mut/Mb, whereas 28 (31.1%) showed a TMB ≥ 10 mut/Mb. STK11 and KRAS mutations were significantly associated with a higher TMB (p = 0.019 and p = 0.004, respectively). Conversely, EGFR and EML4-ALK alterations were more frequently found in tumors with low TMB (p = 0.019 and p < 0.001, respectively). We compared results obtained from this approach with those obtained from a single or few genes approach, observing perfect concordance of the results.