title: Clinical relevance of erbB-1 and -2 oncogenes in oral carcinomas.
abstract: To gain a better understanding of molecular changes in oral squamous cell carcinomas, we tested fresh tumour specimens from 110 patients for erbB-1 and -2 oncogene aberrations using the competitive differential polymerase chain reaction. The significance of established tumour characteristics such as TNM stage, differentiation and oncogene aberrations for tumour progression were analyzed. ErbB-2 amplification with a gene copy number > 1.6 in tumour tissue and erbB-1 deletion with a gene copy number < 0.4 in tumour-surrounding mucosa are of clinical relevance and indicate an early tumour recurrence or metastasis (p < 0.05). In T1/T2 tumours an erbB-2 gene dosage study allows differentiation between tumours with high or low risk for early progression. In a multivariate statistical analysis T stage (p < 0.01) and erbB-2 amplification in tumour material (p < 0.05) were independent prognostic variables.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Münster, Germany. werkmei@uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Werkmeister
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Joos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D018773:Genes, erbB-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D066246:ErbB Receptors; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases