THE PROGNOSTIC-SIGNIFICANCE OF EPIDERMAL GROWTH-FACTOR RECEPTOR EXPRESSION IN SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMAS OF THE ESOPHAGUS

EGFR expression in 150 potentially curative resected squamous cell car cinomas of the oesophagus was analyzed immunohistochemically and corre lated with survival. Altogether, 124 of 150 (82.7%) tumours expressed different levers of EGFR. The percentage of tumour cells expressing EG FR varied greatly between the different tumours (median: 70%). 62 (50. 0%) tumours showed weak and intense staining respectively. Regarding t he staining pattern 19 (15.3%) tumours showed exclusively membraneous immunoreactivity, 27 (21.8%) an exclusively cytoplasmic immunoreactivi ty and 78 (62.9%) a mixed staining pattern. No significant correlation however could be Sound between EGFR expression and various clinicopat hologic parameters such as pT category, pN category, tumour size, hist ologic grade and blood vessel invasion. In univariate survival analysi s, no correlation between EGFR expression and postoperative survival t ime was observed. In a forward multivariate Cox regression analysis on ly the parameters lymphatic-vessel invasion (p = 0.001), pT category ( p = 0.0034) and pN category (p = 0.0256), but not the EGFR expression, could be verified as independent prognostic variables. In conclusion, the evaluation of the EGFR expression does not provide prognostic inf ormation for patients who underwent potentially curative resection for SCC of the oesophagus.