TY - JOUR T1 - Exhaled breath condensate is not suitable to detect EGFR somatic mutations JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 1126 LP - 1127 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00083008 VL - 32 IS - 4 AU - A. Paradiso AU - S. Tommasi AU - R. Pinto AU - G. E. Carpagnano AU - M. P. Foschino-Barbaro Y1 - 2008/10/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/32/4/1126.abstract N2 - To the Editors: Somatic mutations in the tyrosine kinase domain of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are molecular targets of great clinical interest in lung cancer. In particular, its ability to permit clinical efficacy of specific therapies with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (i.e. gefitinib or erlotinib) has been stressed 1, 2. Interestingly, our group has already shown that the exhaled breath condensate (EBC) can be a useful and noninvasive way to collect biological samples derived from high up and deep within the airways 3, 4. EBC has been demonstrated to be informative on molecular alterations of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to characterise the oxidative and inflammatory process in the airways/lung 5, 6. In particular, we recently demonstrated an overlapping microsatellite signature from EBC and tumour tissue of the same patient showing … ER -