title: Epidermal growth factor receptor expression in carcinoma gallbladder: A prospective study in Indian scenario.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is an aggressive disease with poor prognosis and complete surgical resection offering the only cure. Increased epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression has been noted in various cancers including GBC. Several studies across the world have examined the expression of EGFR in GBC. This study has been done to see the EGFR expression in GBC in Indian context.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty cases of GBC were evaluated histopathologically using hematoxylin and eosin stained sections. Immunohistochemical assessment of EGFR expression was done, and scoring was done as per Kaufman et al. Data were collected, tabulated, and analyzed statistically by SPSS 16.0 version (Chicago, Inc., USA) software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 50 cases, 44 revealed EGFR over-expression while 6 were negative. Of the 44 cases, 10 had weak EGFR immunostaining intensity (1+), 26 had moderate (2+), and 8 showed strong EGFR immunostaining (3+). We found that most of the cases showing weak EGFR immunostaining intensity (1+) were well-differentiated tumor (70%) and cases with a strong EGFR immunostaining intensity (3+) were poorly differentiated cases of adenocarcinoma (75%). Moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma showed moderate EGFR immunostaining intensity (2+) in most of the cases (53.8%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  EGFR is expressed in most of the cases of GBC. In well-differentiated adenocarcinoma, the EGFR expression is less compared to EGFR expression in poorly differentiated tumor, leading to the conclusion that the differentiation of the tumor and EGFR expression is inversely related. Thus, intensity of EGFR expression may correlate with aggressiveness of disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Command Hospital, Central command, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Nidhish
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Command Hospital, Central command, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Majid Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Command Hospital, Central command, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Nikhilesh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Command Hospital, Central command, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Richa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ranjan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Command Hospital, Central command, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Nandita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hazra
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D066246:ErbB Receptors