Abstract
Lung cancer has become the top killer among malignant tumors in China and is significantly associated with somatic genetic alterations. We performed exome sequencing of 14 non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs) with matched adjacent normal lung tissues extracted from Chinese patients. In addition to the lung cancer-related genes (TP53, EGFR, KRAS, PIK3CA, and ROS1), this study revealed "novel" genes not previously implicated in NSCLC. Especially, matrix-remodeling associated 5 was the second most frequently mutated gene in NSCLC (first is TP53). Subsequent Sanger sequencing of matrix-remodeling associated 5 in an additional sample set consisting of 52 paired tumor-normal DNA samples revealed that 15% of Chinese NSCLCs contained somatic mutations in matrix-remodeling associated 5. These findings, together with the results from pathway analysis, strongly indicate that altered extracellular matrix-remodeling may be involved in the etiology of NSCLC.