Department of Breast Cancer Pathology and Research Laboratory, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center of Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin, Tianjin's Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin Medical University, Ministry of Education, Ti Yuan Bei, Hexi District, Tianjin 300060, China.
Department of Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Linyi, Luozhuang District, Linyi 276016, China.
Hum Pathol. 2018 Jul;77:1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.humpath.2018.01.016. Epub 2018 Jan 31.
Molecular apocrine breast cancer (MABC) is a molecular subtype with a poor prognosis, and there is urgent need to find new therapeutic targets. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plays an important part in regulating the biological behavior of tumor cells, and EGFR-targeted drugs have already been used in therapy for lung and colorectal cancers. The purpose of this study was to analyze the significance of EGFR expression in MABC. A total of 400 patients with invasive breast cancer were analyzed, including 200 MABC and 200 non-MABC cases. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence were carried out to evaluate the expression of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, androgen receptor (AR), EGFR, epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and other biomarkers. Two hundred twelve (53%) cases were positive for EGFR expression, including 173 MABC and 39 non-MABC cases. EGFR expression was positively associated with AR expression in MABC, as well as with more advanced tumor stage and high Ki67 expression. Patients with EGFR expression had worse outcomes than those without. As a prognosis biomarker, EGFR was significantly associated with poorer clinical outcomes, and the co-expression of EGFR and HER2 often predicted worse outcomes in MABC. This study suggests that the identification of new targets such as HER2 and EGFR may help with assessing the prognosis of patients with MABC. Using both AR and EGFR as therapeutic targets may be especially important in MABC and may help to guide the choice of suitable treatments for individual breast cancer patients.
分子大汗腺癌（MABC）是一种预后不良的分子亚型，迫切需要寻找新的治疗靶点。表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）在调节肿瘤细胞的生物学行为中起着重要作用，EGFR 靶向药物已被用于治疗肺癌和结直肠癌。本研究旨在分析 EGFR 表达在 MABC 中的意义。分析了 400 例浸润性乳腺癌患者，包括 200 例 MABC 和 200 例非 MABC 病例。采用免疫组化和免疫荧光法评估雌激素受体、孕激素受体、雄激素受体（AR）、EGFR、表皮生长因子受体 2（HER2）等生物标志物的表达。212 例（53%）病例 EGFR 表达阳性，其中 MABC 173 例，非 MABC 39 例。EGFR 表达与 MABC 中的 AR 表达呈正相关，与肿瘤分期较晚和 Ki67 表达较高有关。EGFR 表达的患者预后较差。作为预后标志物，EGFR 与较差的临床结局显著相关，MABC 中 EGFR 和 HER2 的共表达常预示着更差的结局。本研究表明，鉴定新的靶点，如 HER2 和 EGFR，可能有助于评估 MABC 患者的预后。将 AR 和 EGFR 联合作为治疗靶点在 MABC 中可能尤为重要，并有助于指导选择适合个别乳腺癌患者的治疗方案。
