title: High EGFR expression predicts poor prognosis in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx: a TMA-based immunohistochemical analysis.
abstract: This retrospective study was designed to investigate the prognostic significance of EGFR overexpression in human oral squamous cell carcinoma on a long-term follow-up. EGFR expression was examined immunohistochemically on a tissue microarray (TMA) of paraffin embedded tissue specimens from 109 patients who underwent surgical treatment for squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx in the period between 1980 and 1997. High EGFR expression was found in 80 (73.42%) of the tumour samples. Kaplan-Meier curves showed that EGFR overexpression was significantly related to decreased overall survival (p=0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that EGFR overexpression is an independent prognostic marker in these patients (p=0.02, RR 3.6). These results confirm that EGFR overexpression is an independent prognostic marker in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx. The EGFR antigen represents an attractive target for targeted therapies with monoclonal antibodies or specific tyrosine-kinase inhibitors in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Maxillofacial Surgery, Innsbruck Medical University, Anichstrasse 35, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. klaus.laimer@chello.at
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Laimer
authors.forename: Gilbert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Spizzo
authors.forename: Guenther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gastl
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Obrist
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brunhuber
authors.forename: Dominic
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fong
authors.forename: Verena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Barbieri
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jank
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Doppler
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rasse
authors.forename: Burghard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Norer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009959:Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C512478:EGFR protein, human; D066246:ErbB Receptors