title: Epidermal growth factor receptor protein overexpression and gene amplification are associated with aggressive biological behaviors of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: Alterations of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), including overexpression or gene mutations, contribute to the malignant transformation of human epithelial cells. The aim of this study was to assess EGFR overexpression or gene amplification in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tissue samples and investigate their correlations with biological behaviors. Tissue specimens from 56 patients with surgically resected ESCC were obtained for immunohistochemical analysis of EGFR expression and fluorescencein situhybridization analysis ofEGFRamplification. The data were statistically analyzed to determine the associations with patient clinicopathological and survival data. EGFR was overexpressed in 30 of the 56 (53.6%) ESCC samples and was associated with poor tumor differentiation (P=0.047).EGFRamplification was detected in 13 cases (23.2%) and was associated with advanced pathological stage (P=0.042) and tumor lymph node metastasis (P=0.002). The univariate analysis identified no association between EGFR overexpression and the overall survival (OS) of the patients. By contrast,EGFRamplification predicted ESCC prognosis (P=0.031), while the multivariate analysis revealed a marginal statistical significance for the association betweenEGFRamplification and OS (P=0.056). EGFR overexpression and increasedEGFRcopy number were common events in ESCC and contributed to malignant biological behaviors, including tumor dedifferentiation and lymph node metastasis.EGFRamplification may therefore be useful in predicting OS in patients with ESCC.
authors.affiliation: First Clinical Medical School, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325035, P.R. China ; Department of Radiation Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Jiang
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qian-Bo
authors.initials: QB
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: First Clinical Medical School, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325035, P.R. China ; Department of Radiation Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ya-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jia-Lei
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: G U
authors.initials: GU
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jin-Lin
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wen-Yong
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei-Min
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Mao
keywords: epidermal growth factor receptor; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; fluorescence in situ hybridization; immunohistochemistry; prognosis