Department of Biochemistry and Immunology, Lillebaelt Hospital, University Hospital of Southern Denmark, Vejle, Denmark.
Department of Regional Health Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Sci Rep. 2020 Apr 21;10(1):6714. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-63375-z.
The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and its ligands are involved in cancer pathogenesis and they might serve as circulating biomarkers. The current study aims to investigate if abnormal pre-treatment serum levels of EGFR and EGFR ligands are present in women with early-stage breast cancer and if up- or downregulation of EGFR and EGFR ligands occur in defined patient subgroups. Pre-treatment serum samples were obtained from 311 women with newly diagnosed early-stage breast cancer and from 419 healthy women and analysed for EGFR and the ligands: Epidermal growth factor (EGF), heparin-binding epidermal growth factor (HBEGF), betacellulin (BTC), amphiregulin (AREG), and transforming growth factor α (TGF-α). Previously, age-dependent 95% reference intervals for EGFR and the EGFR ligands have been established based on the healthy women population. S-EGFR, S-EGF, S-HBEGF, S-AREG, and S-TGFα were all significantly different in women with breast cancer compared to healthy women (p < 0.05). Elevated S-EGFR, according to the reference intervals, was present in 11.3% of breast cancer patients, whereas decreased S-EGF was found in 11.6%. Elevated S-EGFR was associated with estrogen receptor positivity of tumor (ER+) and a subgroup of ER + breast cancer patients showed markedly elevated S-EGFR (>120 ng/mL).
表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）及其配体参与癌症的发病机制，它们可能作为循环生物标志物。本研究旨在探讨早期乳腺癌患者是否存在异常的 EGFR 和 EGFR 配体的预处理血清水平，以及 EGFR 和 EGFR 配体是否在特定的患者亚组中出现上调或下调。从 311 名新诊断为早期乳腺癌的女性和 419 名健康女性中采集预处理血清样本，并对 EGFR 和配体进行分析：表皮生长因子（EGF）、肝素结合表皮生长因子（HBEGF）、β细胞素（BTC）、双调蛋白（AREG）和转化生长因子α（TGF-α）。此前，基于健康女性人群，已建立了 EGFR 和 EGFR 配体的年龄依赖性 95%参考区间。与健康女性相比，乳腺癌女性的 S-EGFR、S-EGF、S-HBEGF、S-AREG 和 S-TGFα 均显著不同（p<0.05）。根据参考区间，11.3%的乳腺癌患者存在 S-EGFR 升高，而 11.6%的患者存在 S-EGF 降低。S-EGFR 升高与肿瘤雌激素受体阳性（ER+）相关，并且 ER+乳腺癌患者的亚组显示出明显升高的 S-EGFR（>120ng/mL）。
