Epidermal growth factor, oestrogen and progesterone receptor expression in primary ovarian cancer: correlation with clinical outcome and response to chemotherapy

Abstract

Summary The expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), oestrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) was assayed by a radioreceptor method in 117 primary ovarian cancers. EGFR was not significantly related to any of the clinicopathological parameters examined. In patients with stage II-IV disease who underwent second-look surgery after primary chemotherapy, a significant correlation between high EGFR levels and poor response to chemotherapy was demonstrated (P = 0.031). Moreover, post-operative residual tumour showed an independent role in predicting chemotherapy response (P = 0.0007) and EGFR status showed a borderline significance (P = 0.052) in the multivariate analysis. No correlation between steroid hormone receptors and clinicopathological parameters was observed. Whereas a significant relationship was shown between EGFR positivity and a shorter overall survival (OS) (P = 0.0022) and progression-free survival (PFS) (P = Neal et al., 1991;Maurizi et al., 1992; Scambia et al., 1994). Moreover, in breast cancer EGFR expression seems to be a feature of hormone-independent aggressive clinical behaviour (Klijn et al., 1992). Our previous study The membrane fraction and cytosol were prepared as described elsewhere . Briefly, tumour specimens were finely minced and homogenised in five volumes of ice-cold buffer consisting of 25 mM Tris, 1.5 mM EDTA, 5 mM sodium azide, 20% glycerol (TENG) plus 0.1 % monothioglycerol, by applying several intermittent bursts of an Ultra-Turrax homogeniser. The crude homogenate was centrifuged at 7000 g for 20 min at 0°C in order to separate nuclear fraction from the cytosol fraction. The supernatants were then centrifuged at 105 000 g for 75 min at 0°C, obtaining the membrane pellet and the cytosolic fraction.

Expression of Oncogenic Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Family Kinases Induces Paclitaxel Resistance and Alters β-Tubulin Isotype Expression

“…Gene amplification and overexpression of intact or wild type (wt)EGFR have been found in a variety of epithelial and neuronal neoplasms including squamous cell carcinomas, melanoma, and glioblastoma multiforme and portend a poor prognosis for patients with these tumors (13)(14)(15)(16). Overexpression of EGFR has been associated with a relative resistance to chemotherapy in cell lines and in patients with breast, ovarian, and esophageal cancer (17)(18)(19)(20)(21). HER2 is a closely related member of the EGFR family which is oncogenic when overexpressed in several cell contexts as a result of transactivation of HER2 complexes (22).…”

Prognostic significance of ras/p21 alterations in human ovarian cancer

“…The correlation between p21 levels and the presence of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which has been reported to be associated with a poor prognosis in ovarian cancer (Scambia et al, 1992(Scambia et al, , 1995Bartlett et al, 1996), was also examined. Moreover, in order to investigate whether ras gene mutation assessment could improve the prognostic information provided by p21 oncoprotein levels, mutations of Kras -the ras gene prevalently mutated in ovarian tumours (Enomoto et al, 1990;Teneriello et al, 1993) -were studied in the same population.…”

Establishment of a human non‐small cell lung cancer cell line resistant to gefitinib

“…1,2 Human solid tumors, including lung cancer, glioblastoma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, gastric cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer and head and neck cancer, express epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) frequently, and elevated EGFR levels are related to disease progression, survival, stage and response to therapy. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] The therapies directed at blocking EGFR function are attractive.…”