THE PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF EPIDERMAL GROWTH-FACTOR RECEPTOR MESSENGER-RNA EXPRESSION IN PRIMARY OVARIAN-CANCER

The expression of mRNA for the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor, EGF and transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) was determined i n 76 malignant, six borderline and 15 benign primary ovarian tumours u sing the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and related t o clinical and pathological parameters. Of the malignant tumours, 70% (53/76) expressed EGF receptor mRNA, 31% (23/75) expressed EGF mRNA an d 35% (26/75) expressed TGF-alpha mRNA. For the borderline tumours, fo ur of six (67%) expressed EGF receptor mRNA, 1/6 (17%) expressed TGF-a lpha mRNA and none expressed EGF mRNA. Finally, 33% (5/15) of the beni gn tumours expressed EGF receptor mRNA, whereas 40% (6/15) expressed E GF mRNA and 7% (1/15) expressed TGF-alpha mRNA. The presence of the EG F receptor in malignant tumours was associated with that of TGF-alpha (P=0.0015) but not with EGF (P=1.00), whereas there was no relationshi p between the presence of EGF and TGF-alpha (P=1.00). EGF receptor mRN A expression was significantly and positively associated with serous h istology (P=0.006) but not with stage or grade. Neither EGF nor TGF-al pha showed any link with histological subtype or stage. The survival o f patients with malignant tumours possessing EGF receptor mRNA was sig nificantly reduced compared with that of patients whose tumours were n egative (P=0.030 for all malignant tumours; P=0.007 for malignant epit helial tumours only). In contrast, neither the expression of TGF-alpha nor EGF was related to survival. These data suggest that the presence of EGF receptor mRNA is associated with poor prognosis in primary ova rian cancer.