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Impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Analysis of institutional authors

Azuara, DAuthorSantos, CAuthorLopez-Doriga, AAuthorNadal, MAuthorMarin, FAuthorMoreno, VCorresponding AuthorCapella, GCorresponding AuthorSalazar, RCorresponding Author

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April 4, 2016
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Article

Nanofluidic digital PCR and extended genotyping of RAS and BRAF for improved selection of metastatic colorectal cancer patients to anti-EGFR therapies

Publicated to:Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. 15 (5): 1106-1112 - 2016-05-01 15(5), DOI: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-15-0820

Authors: Azuara D, Santos C, Lopez-Doriga A, Grasselli J, Nadal M, Sanjuan X, Marin F, Vidal J, Montal R, Moreno V, Bellosillo B, Argiles G, Elez E, Dienstmann R, Montagut C, Tabernero J, Capellá G, Salazar R

Affiliations

Bellvitge Biomed Res Inst IDIBELL, ICO, Dept Med Oncol, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Bellvitge Biomed Res Inst IDIBELL, ICO, Translat Res Lab, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Bellvitge Biomed Res Inst IDIBELL, ICO, Unit Biomarkers & Susceptibil, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Hosp Univ del Mar, Dept Med Oncol, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Hosp Univ del Mar, Dept Pathol, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Inst Oncol VHIO, E-08193 Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Hosp Bellvitge HUB IDIBELL, Dept Pathol, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Vall DHebron Univ Hosp, Dept Med Oncol, Barcelona, Spain - Author
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Abstract

The clinical significance of low-frequent RAS pathway-mutated alleles and the optimal sensitivity cutoff value in the prediction of response to anti-EGFR therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients remains controversial. We aimed to evaluate the added value of genotyping an extended RAS panel using a robust nanofluidic digital PCR (dPCR) approach. A panel of 34 hotspots, including RAS (KRAS and NRAS exons 2/3/4) and BRAF (V600E), was analyzed in tumor FFPE samples from 102 mCRC patients treated with anti-EGFR therapy. dPCR was compared with conventional quantitative PCR (qPCR). Response rates, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were correlated to the mutational status and the mutated allele fraction. Tumor response evaluations were not available in 9 patients and were excluded for response rate analysis. Twenty-two percent of patients were positive for one mutation with qPCR (mutated alleles ranged from 2.1% to 66.6%). Analysis by dPCR increased the number of positive patients to 47%. Mutated alleles for patients only detected by dPCR ranged from 0.04% to 10.8%. An inverse correlation between the fraction of mutated alleles and radiologic response was observed. ROC analysis showed that a fraction of 1% or higher of any mutated alleles offered the best predictive value for all combinations of RAS and BRAF analysis. In addition, this threshold also optimized prediction both PFS and OS. We conclude that mutation testing using an extended gene panel, including RAS and BRAF with a threshold of 1% improved prediction of response to anti-EGFR therapy. Mol Cancer Ther; 15(5); 1106-12. ©2016 AACR.©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.

Keywords

Good health and well-being

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2016, it was in position 36/217, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Oncology.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 2.77, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-18, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 10
  • Scopus: 15
  • Europe PMC: 8
  • Google Scholar: 21
  • Open Alex: 15

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-18:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 56.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 58 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 3.5.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 1 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
Continuing with the social impact of the work, it is important to emphasize that, due to its content, it can be assigned to the area of interest of ODS 3 - Good Health and Well-Being, with a probability of 81% according to the mBERT algorithm developed by Aurora University.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Azuara Garcia, Daniel) and Last Author (Salazar Soler, Ramon).

the authors responsible for correspondence tasks have been Moreno Aguado, Victor Raul, Capellá Munar, Gabriel and Salazar Soler, Ramon.