title: EGF-R expression in ductal breast cancer: proliferation and prognostic implications.
abstract: We studied epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) expression in relation to steroid receptor status, flow cytometric DNA content and S-phase fraction (%S) in a selected case series of 129 ductal primary operable breast cancer to determine the possible role of EGF-R in prognosis assessment. EGF-R expression was positively related with proliferation activity, suggesting that EGF-R could be involved in the regulation of breast cancer cell growth. We found about 80% of highly proliferating DNA aneuploid tumors in the EGF-R positive category, while the EGF-R negative tumors showed a lower frequency of highly proliferating DNA aneuploid tumors (57%), confirming the important role of EGF-R in breast cancer aggressiveness and progression. No relationship between EGF-R expression and steroid receptor status was observed. To better understand how EGF-R and estrogen receptor (ER) operate together to stimulate breast cancer cell growth, we analyzed the %S in the two groups of ER negative (ER-) and ER positive (ER+) tumors, stratifying the patients on the basis of EGF-R tumor positivity. Here breast tumor proliferation activity seems mainly to be induced by the stimulus of EGF-R, the %S values of the EGF-R negative tumors in the ER- and ER+ groups being 6.1 and 6.9%, respectively. Instead, the median %S of EGF-R positive tumors was 10% in the ER- class and 14% in the ER+ group. The analysis of the percentages of 5-year patient disease free survival were 84% for patients with EGF-R negative tumors and 61% for patients with EGF-R positive lesions, respectively. The data reported here further show the crucial role of EGF-R in breast cancer cell growth and that the EGF-R overexpression is indicative of a poor prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Regina Elena, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bucci
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: D'Agnano
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Botti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mottolese
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carico
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zupi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vecchione
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D011003:Ploidies
chemical_list: D066246:ErbB Receptors