Intratumoral heterogeneity of oncogenic drivers in mixed histology lung adenocarcinomas: How tissue selection impacts molecular testing?

Majority of the lung adenocarcinomas show a mixture of different histological patterns. The possibility of histologically heterogeneous areas of the adenocarcinoma showing genetic heterogeneity and harboring different driver mutations, with potentially significant clinical impact, has not been adequately addressed. Currently, there are no guidelines to suggest how to submit tumor tissue in adenocarcinomas with mixed histological features for molecular testing.

The objective of this study is to assess intra-tumoral heterogeneity in prominent driver mutations among different morphological patterns of lung adenocarcinoma, its implications on the future of molecular testing as well as its potential impact on patient management.

Twenty-three cases of mixed histology lung adenocarcinoma resected between 2018 and 2023 were retrieved from the archives. H&E slides were reviewed to identify the predominant and second most predominant histological patterns. The morphologically different tumor areas were manually macro-dissected for DNA extraction. Next-Generation Sequencing with Ion AmpliSeq™ Cancer Hotspot Panel v2 (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA).

Thirteen cases showed the same pathological variant in both histological components tested. Three cases (13 %) exhibited disparities in the variants detected across the different histological patterns tested (p=0.025). The discrepant findings had a direct therapeutic impact in 4.3 % cases. Seven cases showed no pathogenic variants detected on either of the histological components tested.

This study elucidates the presence of infrequent yet significant intra-tumoral heterogeneity in the molecular profiles of mixed histology adenocarcinomas, highlighting the need for guidelines directing tissue selection for molecular testing to avoid missed therapeutic opportunities and mitigate disease relapse.