CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF EPIDERMAL GROWTH-FACTOR AND ITS RECEPTOR IN HUMAN PANCREATIC-CANCER

The expression of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and its receptor (EGF- R) was examined immunohistochemically in 60 primary and 26 metastatic lesions of pancreatic carcinoma. EGF was stained mainly in the cytopla sm of tumor cells, and EGF-R was stained mainly on the surface of cell s. The expression rates of EGF and EGF-R were 28% and 43% for primary lesions, and 46% and 46% for metastatic lesions, respectively. The exp ression of EGF and EGF-R alone did not correlate with any clinicopatho logical factors such as clinical stage, tumor size, nodal involvement, histology, etc. The median survival period after pancreatectomy was 2 1.4 months for patients with EGF(+) cancers and 25.1 months for those with EGF (-) ones. On the other hand the median survival period was 22 .7 months for patients with EGF-R (+) cancers and 25.0 months for thos e with EGF-R (-) cancers. There were no significant differences in sur vival between groups of patients differing in EGF or EGF-R expression. When the expression of EGF and EGF-R was analysed in combination, the survival curve of patients with EGF(+) and EGF-R(+) cancers was found to be lower than that of the rest of the patients (p=0.07), and espec ially the survival curve of patients with EGF(+)EGF-R(+) cancers was s ignificantly lower than that of patients with EGF(+)EGF-R(-) cancers ( p=0.02), and EGF(-)EGF-R(+) cancers (p=0.06). These results indicate t hat the expression of EGF or EGF-R alone in pancreatic cancer does not reflect the prognosis of patients; however the coexpression of EGF an d EGF-R may be a beneficial prognostic factor for pancreatic cancer.