Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Apr 15, 2018; 10(4): 103-107
Published online Apr 15, 2018. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v10.i4.103
EGFR amplification induces sensitivity to antiEGFR therapy in pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma
Corentin Richard, Julie Niogret, Romain Boidot, Francois Ghiringhelli
Corentin Richard, Romain Boidot, Francois Ghiringhelli, Platform of Transfer in Oncology, Center GF Leclerc, Dijon 21000, France
Corentin Richard, Romain Boidot, Francois Ghiringhelli, INSERM U1231, Dijon 21000, France
Corentin Richard, Francois Ghiringhelli, University of Bourgogne Franche Comte, Dijon 21000, France
Julie Niogret, Francois Ghiringhelli, Department of Medical Oncology, Georges Francois Leclerc Cancer Center, Dijon 21000, France
Author contributions: Boidot R and Ghiringhelli F designed the report; Richard C and Niogret J performed the genetic analyses; Ghiringhelli F collected the patient’s clinical data; Boidot R and Ghiringhelli F analyzed the data and wrote the paper.
Informed consent statement: The patient gave their written consent to authorize genetic analyses.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Francois Ghiringhelli, MD, Professor, Department of Medical Oncology, Georges Francois Leclerc Cancer Center, 1 Rue Pr Marion, Dijon 21000, France. fghiringhelli@cgfl.fr
Telephone: +33-380-393353 Fax: +33-380-393434
Received: December 22, 2017
Peer-review started: December 22, 2017
First decision: January 6, 2018
Revised: February 1, 2018
Accepted: March 6, 2018
Article in press: March 6, 2018
Published online: April 15, 2018
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Case characteristics

A pancreatic cancer with liver metastasis.

Clinical diagnosis

Amplification of the EGFR gene is targetable in pancreatic acinar carcinoma.

Differential diagnosis

Histology and molecular biology are required for the diagnosis.

Laboratory diagnosis

Genetic testing provides information on targetable tumor mutation.

Imaging diagnosis

Computed tomography scan underlines liver metastasis necrosis.

Treatment

The patient was treated with off-label usage of panitumumab.

Term explanation

This is the first report of EGFR amplification in acinar cell pancreatic cancer, and the first report of panitumumab efficacy in such disease.

Experiences and lessons

Our findings suggest that exome analysis may be a helpful tool to highlight targets in rare cancers, such as pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma. EGFR amplification in this pathology should be determined and could be used as biomarker to propose antiEGFR therapy.