title: Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of EGFR over-expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To elucidate the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) over-expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  A meta-analysis of previous studies was performed to assess the effects of EGFR over-expression on clinicopathological parameters and overall survival (OS) in patients with ESCC, using pooled odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) and pooled hazard ratio (HR) with its 95% CI, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of nine studies including 802 patients were subjected to the final analysis. The overall results suggested that over-expression of EGFR was significantly correlated with, not only the lymph node status and tumour differentiation grade, with a pooled OR of 0.64 (95% CI: 0.46-0.89; Z=2.62; p=0.009) and 1.60 (95% CI: 1.09-2.37; Z=2.37; p=0.018), respectively, but also the poorer OS with a pooled HR of 1.60 (95% CI: 1.05-2.43; Z=2.19 p=0.028).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This meta-analysis suggests that over-expression of EGFR might play an important role in the progression of ESCC, and it might be useful as a predictive biomarker in clinical practice, yet the predictive value of EGFR in ESCC still needs further confirmation by prospective trials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Cancer Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Wei
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yan-Mei
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xu-Wei
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Zheng-Fei
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Wei-Xin
authors.initials: WX
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xiao-Long
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000737:chemistry / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000032:analysis*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D066246:ErbB Receptors