title: Significance of epidermal growth factor receptor expression in breast cancer.
abstract: Recent interest of many investigators is focused on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family, because of their potential role in the pathogenesis and progression of breast cancer. Paraffin tumor sections were collected retrospectively from 181 breast cancer patients diagnosed between 2002 and 2003. Immunohistochemical staining with ErbB-1, ErbB-2, ErbB-3, and ErbB-4 monoclonal antibodies was performed. The ErbB expression was correlated with the other clinicopathological variables. Overexpression of ErbB-1, ErbB-2, ErbB-3, and ErbB-4 was observed in 20.6, 18.2, 14.3, and 5.7% cases, respectively. Overexpression of ErbB-1 and ErbB-2 was associated with poor prognostic features and decreased 5-year disease-free survival. The patients with co-overexpression of ErbB-1 and ErbB-2 had a shorter DFS, although this difference was not statistically significant. ErbB-1 overexpression may indicate a subset of patients with a poor disease prognosis. Assays for ErbB-1 and ErbB-2 may be more useful than a single assay in predicting prognosis of a breast cancer patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, University Hospital Zagreb, Kispaticeva 12, Zagreb, Croatia. tanja.badovinac@zg.t-com.hr
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Badovinac-Crnjevic
authors.forename: Jasminka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jakic-Razumovic
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Podolski
authors.forename: Stjepko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pleština
authors.forename: Božena
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sarčević
authors.forename: Radenka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Munjas
authors.forename: Damir
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vrbanec
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality*; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D066246:ErbB Receptors; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; C512478:EGFR protein, human; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human