Expression and significance of epidermal growth factor receptor and its variant Ⅲ in human esophageal carcinoma / 中国癌症杂志

ABSTRACT

Background and purpose: It has been reported that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and epidermal growth factor receptor variant Ⅲ (EGFRv Ⅲ) play important roles in the progression of various cancers. This research was to detect the expression and relation of EGFR and epidermal growth factor receptor variant Ⅲ (EGFRv Ⅲ) to human esophageal carcinoma. Methods: In 66 human esophageal carcinoma tissues, the expression of EGFR and EGFRv Ⅲ were detected by imrnunohistochemistry and western-blot. The expression of EGFR and EGFRv Ⅲ along with the patients' clinicopathologic factors was retrospectively analyzed. Correlation analysis between EGFRv Ⅲ and EGFR was analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: The average gray scale values of EGFR in esophageal carcinoma and normal tissues by immunohistochemistry were 25.4±3.2 and 5.0±3.5, which showed a significant difference (t=5.574, P=0.000). And the average gray scale values of EGFRv Ⅲ in esophageal carcinoma and normal tissues were 22.5±4.2 and 5.5±3.0, which also showed a significant difference (t=6.701,P=0.000). The average gray scale values of EGFR in esophageal carcinoma and normal tissues respectively by western-blot were 1.37±0.41 and 0.21±0.09, which showed a significant difference (t=10.704, P=0.000) And the average gray scale values of EGFRv Ⅲ respectively were 0.828±0.15 and 0.083±0.049, which had a significant difference (t=9.362, P=0.000). Significant differences were observed in TNM-stage, lymphatic metastasis and tumor classification in both the expression of EGFR (P<0.05) and EGFRv Ⅲ (P<0.05), and but there were no obvious differences in gender, age, minor size, growth pattern in both the expression of EGFR (P<0.05) and EGFRvⅢ (P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that there was strong association of the expression between EGFR and EGFRv Ⅲ both detected by immunohistochemistry (r=0.701,P<0.0001) and western-blot respectively(r=0.556, P=0.031). Conclusion: Our data suggests that EGFRvⅢ is over-expressed in human esophageal carcinoma. Combination of EGFR and EGFRvⅢ could be useful markers for tumorgenesis and differentiation of human esophageal carcinoma.