Previous studies have revealed that age, gender, smoking, and tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage are reliable prognostic markers for lung cancer.5, 6, 7, 8 Nevertheless, patients at the same TNM stage may still have different clinical outcomes.9 There are also some novel biomarkers that are significantly associated with the survival of lung cancer patients and can effectively guide clinical treatments, such as EGFR and IDM‐1.10, 11 However, these markers are costly and time‐consuming to measure. This evidence concerns the gene EGFR and lung cancer.