Polynucleotide primers

1. An isolated EGFR mutation diagnostic primer comprising one of the following primer sequences, or the sequence complementary to one of the following primer sequences: SEQ. ID NOS. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 19, 20, 21 or 75, wherein the primer further comprises a quencher group and a fluorophore group.

2. A primer according to claim 1 wherein the quencher group and the fluorophore group are separated by a nucleotide tail sequence comprising first and second regions, the nucleotides of the first region being complementary to but in reverse order from the nucleotides of the second region, whereby hybridisation of the first region to the second region results in the quencher group to be sufficiently close to the fluorophore group to quench the fluorophore group.

3. A primer according to claim 2 wherein the tail sequence further comprises a third region having a sequence complementary to a region of the EGFR gene.

4. An isolated EGFR mutation diagnostic primer comprising at least the six nucleotides at the 3′ end of SEQ. ID NO. 6 further comprising a quencher group and a fluorophore group, wherein the quencher group and the fluorophore group are separated by a tail sequence comprising SEQ. ID NO. 20.

5. A primer according to claim 1 wherein the quencher group comprises black hole quencher 1 (BHQ1) and the fluorophore group comprises FAM.

6. A primer according to claim 1 wherein the quencher group comprises black hole quencher 2 (BHQ2) and the fluorophore comprises Cal Red.

7. A kit comprising at least a pair of polynucleotides for combined use, wherein one member of the pair of polynucleotides is an EGFR mutation diagnostic primer and comprises SEQ ID NO: 75 or the sequence complementary to SEQ ID NO: 75 and the other member of the pair of polynucleotides comprises SEQ ID NO: 76 or the sequence complementary to SEQ ID NO: 76, wherein one of the polynucleotides comprises a fluorophore group.

8. A kit comprising at least a set of three polynucleotides for combined use, wherein the set of three polynucleotides comprises one of the following sets of three primer sequences, respectively, or sequences complementary thereto: SEQ. ID NOS. 1, 10 and 15, or SEQ. ID NOS. 2, 10 and 15, or SEQ. ID NOS. 4, 11 and 15, or SEQ. ID NOS. 5, 11 and 15, or SEQ. ID NOS. 6, 12 and 16, or SEQ. ID NOS. 21, 10 and 15, or SEQ. ID NOS. 74, 75 and 76, wherein one of the polynucleotides of each set comprises a fluorophore group.

9. A kit according to claim 7 further comprising nucleotide triphosphates, a polymerisation enzyme and/or a buffer solution.

10. A method of detecting the presence or absence of a mutation in the EGFR gene comprising the steps of:

a) mixing a nucleic acid sample comprising at least a fragment of the EGFR gene with an EGFR mutation diagnostic primer, wherein said primer comprises one of the following primer sequences, or the sequence complimentary to one of the following primer sequences: SEQ. ID NOS. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 19, 20, 21 or 75; and

b) detecting hybridisation of the EGFR mutation diagnostic primer to the nucleic acid sample wherein hybridisation indicates the presence or absence of a mutation.

11. A method according to claim 10 , wherein step b) comprises carrying out DNA polymerisation using the EGFR mutation diagnostic primer as a first primer and detecting the extension product of polymerisation.

12. A method according to claim 11 wherein step b) comprises the step of mixing the nucleic acid sample and the EGFR mutation diagnostic primer with a second primer which corresponds to a region of the fragment of the EGFR sequence downstream of the region to which the EGFR mutation diagnostic primer is complementary and carrying out PCR on the mixture.

13. A method according to claim 12 wherein the second primer comprises: SEQ. ID NO. 15 and the EGFR mutation diagnostic primer comprises SEQ. ID NOS. 1, 2, 4, 5, or 21; SEQ. ID NO. 16 and the EGFR mutation diagnostic primer comprises SEQ. ID NO. 6; or SEQ. ID NO. 76 and the polynucleotide comprises at least four or five of the final six nucleotides of SEQ. ID NO. 75.

14. A method according to claim 11 wherein step a) comprises the step of mixing the nucleic acid sample with a pair of a mutation specific primer and a wild-type specific primer, the pair being selected from: SEQ. ID NO: 1 and SEQ. ID NO: 10; SEQ. ID NO: 2 and SEQ. ID NO: 10; SEQ. ID NO: 4 and SEQ. ID NO: 11; SEQ. ID NO: 5 and SEQ. ID NO: 11; SEQ. ID NO: 6 and SEQ. ID NO: 12; SEQ. ID NO: 21 and SEQ. ID NO: 10; or SEQ. ID NO. 74 and SEQ. ID NO. 75.

15. A method according to claim 14 wherein the nucleic acid sample comprises wild-type sequences and mutated sequences and further comprising step c) wherein the number of amplification cycles required to amplify the wild-type sequences to a predetermined quantity is compared with the number of amplification cycles required to amplify the mutated sequences to the predetermined quantity thereby providing an indication of the ratio of the wild type sequences to mutated sequences in the sample.

16. A method according to claim 15 wherein the nucleic acid sample comprises a portion of tumourous tissue and a portion of non-tumourous tissue and wherein step c) further comprises the step of determining the ratio of tumourous tissue to non-tumourous tissue in the sample.

17. A method according to claim 15 or 16 further comprising the step of, prior to step a), enriching the nucleic acid sample to increase the ratio of tumourous tissue to non-tumourous tissue in the sample.

18. A method according to claim 13 wherein step b) comprises detecting if amplification of at least a portion of the EGFR gene occurs.

19. A method according to claim 10 wherein the EGFR mutation diagnostic primer comprises a quencher group and a fluorophore group and wherein step b) comprises exposing the mixture to light of a wavelength to which the fluorophore is responsive in the absence of the quencher group and detecting light at the wavelength emitted by the fluorophore group in the absence of the quencher group.

20. A composition comprising an EGFR mutation diagnostic primer according to claim 1 , wherein the EGFR mutation diagnostic primer is not bound to a solid substrate.