Differential Gene Expression in Erlotinib-Treated Fibroblasts

Analysis of human, adult, dermal fibroblasts following treatment with 100nM or 1 uM of erlotinib, a tryrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that targets the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibiting EGFR activation and signaling. Erlotinib is widely used to effectively treat patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer but treatment with erlotinib and other EGFR TKIs are associated with a painful skin rash. Results identified significantly differentially expressed genes in fibroblasts treated with erlotinib providing insight into how the drug alters the transcriptome in ways that may contribute to the TKI-related rash. Fibroblasts from a human cell line were treated for three days with either erlotinib (100nM or 1uM), 1uM of DMSO, or no treatment. The cells were harvested on the fourth day for total RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix Human GeneChip 133 Plus 2.0 microarrays.