[Immunohistochemical study on the expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) in invasive cervical cancer of the uterus].

We have investigated the expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) in invasive cervical cancer tissue of the uterus to determine whether there is a relationship between the expression of EGF-R and lymph node metastasis. Frozen sections of surgical specimens from twenty patients with invasive cervical cancer were immunohistochemically stained by the alkalinephosphatase anti-alkalinephosphatase method. The monoclonal antibody 528 we employed reacts with the receptor binding epitope within the EGF molecule, indicating that monoclonal antibody 528 is competitive with ligands such as EGF. Immunohistochemical staining was carried out before and after dissociation of ligands from the cellular surface of the tumor by acid treatment. However, the staining was resulted in no difference between before and after acid treatment. Consequently, the expression of EGF-R was detected in all cancer tissues as well in some normal tissue such as basal cell layers of epidermis. The expression of EGF-R was related inversely with lymph node metastasis by Wilcoxon rank sum test (p less than 0.05). These findings suggest that the expression of EGF-R in cervical cancer does not always lead to tumor growth or tumor invasion, although it does in some types of cancer.