LACK OF PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL DETERMINATION OF EPIDERMAL GROWTH-FACTOR RECEPTORS IN HUMAN PROSTATE-CANCER

We have investigated whether the expression of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors (EGF-Rc) evaluated by immunohistochemical technique, may in fluence the prognosis of patients with prostate cancer. EGF-Rc were po sitive in 20/76 (26.3%) of tumors. There was no correlation between EG F-Rc and other prognostic factors such as tumor size, Gleason score, m etastases at diagnosis, DNA content and S-Phase fraction (SPF). In pat ients with locally advanced tumors EGF-Rc expression was significantly correlated with the presence of metastases at diagnosis (p=0.038). Bo th disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) did not diffe r between patients with receptor-positive and receptor-negative tumors . It is concluded that the immunohistochemical localization of EGF-Rc is of limited prognostic value in prostate cancer.