title: Immunohistochemical evaluation of EGFR expression in lip squamous cell carcinoma. Correlation with clinicopathological characteristics.
abstract: The majority of lip cancer is the squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) type that exhibits clinical and biological characteristics intermediate between skin and oral SCC. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression on prognosis of lip squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) and to relate it with clinicopathological features. The role of EGFR expression as a possible therapeutic target was also discussed.
  
  
  
  A series of 55 patients with LSCC was analyzed. EGFR expression was determined by standardized immunohistochemistry (pharmDx assay) and evaluated by both manual and automated image analysis (ACIS III). The Kappa statistic test was used to evaluate the concordance of manual and automated scores. EGFR results were correlated with clinicopathologic characteristics. Statistical differences between proportions were determined by the chi-squared test (with linear-by-linear correction where appropriate). The Mann-Whitney and the Kruskal-Wallis test were employed for comparison of continuous variables.
  
  
  
  Correlation between manual and automated score was obtained in 50/55 cases (90.9%). EGFR expression was absent or weak in 14 cases (25.5%); borderline (2+) in 20 cases (36.4%) and positive (3+) in 21 cases (38.2%). Significant relationships were found between EGFR expression and tumour ulceration (p=0.022) and tumour thickness (p=0.002) and width (p=0.021).
  
  
  
  Our results revealed EGFR high expression in LSCC and its relationship with bad prognosis criteria (tumour size and ulceration).
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry - University Clinical Hospital, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: Alexo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carballeira
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry - University Clinical Hospital, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. mginartev@aedv.es.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ginarte
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry - University Clinical Hospital, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: Marcio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diniz-Freitas
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry - University Clinical Hospital, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: Inés
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fernández-Campos
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry - University Clinical Hospital, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gude
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry - University Clinical Hospital, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: Máximo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fraga
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry - University Clinical Hospital, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: José Ramón
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Antúnez
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry - University Clinical Hospital, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: Tomás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: García-Caballero
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008048:Lip Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C512478:EGFR protein, human; D066246:ErbB Receptors