Erlotinib (Tarceva<sup>®</sup>), a potent small molecule inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase, has been evaluated to treat infants and children with primary brain tumors.
The Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor gene has been reported to be involved in the progression of gliomas which is one of the deadliest primary brain tumors in humans.
Amplification of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and its mutant EGFRvIII are among the most common genetic alterations in glioblastoma (GBM), the most frequent and most aggressive primary brain tumor.
A frequent genetic alteration in primary brain tumors such as gliomas is an in-frame deletion in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene EGFRvIII, which brings together what were normally distant polypeptide sequences in the intact receptor.