Pirinen R, Lipponen P, Aaltomaa S, Syrjänen K
Department of Pathology & Forensic Medicine, University of Kuopio, Finland.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 1997;123(1):63-8. doi: 10.1007/BF01212617.
A series of 198 female breast cancer biopsies were analysed immunohistochemically for the expression of epidermal growth factor (EGF), with special emphasis on its prognostic significance. A total of 67/198 tumours (33.8%) were EGF-positive, 24 (12%) of which showed strong expression of EGF. EGF was usually expressed in the cytoplasm of the cancer cells but, in 22 cases, the normal ducts adjacent to the cancer showed positive staining as well. Strong EGF expression was related to distant metastases at diagnosis (P = 0.04). Oestrogen(ER)- and progesterone-receptor(PR)-negative tumours showed EGF positivity with equal frequency (P = 0.05 in both). Axillary lymph node status, histological type, tumour size, histological grade, S-phase fraction, mitotic index or cancer recurrence did not show any statistical correlation with EGF expression. Tumour size (P = 0.007), axillary lymph node involvement (P = 0.003) and ER content (P = 0.03) were independent prognostic factors in multivariate survival analysis, whereas EGF positivity, as an independent factor, had no effect on survival. In univariate analysis, however, EGF positivity predicted a more favourable outcome in axillary-lymph-node-positive tumours (P = 0.04). The results suggest that immunohistochemical assessment of EGF expression has hardly any clinical significance in addition to the well-established prognostic factors in breast cancer.
对198例女性乳腺癌活检标本进行免疫组织化学分析，以检测表皮生长因子（EGF）的表达情况，并特别关注其预后意义。198例肿瘤中共有67例（33.8%）EGF呈阳性，其中24例（12%）EGF呈强表达。EGF通常在癌细胞的细胞质中表达，但在22例病例中，癌旁的正常导管也显示出阳性染色。EGF强表达与诊断时的远处转移相关（P = 0.04）。雌激素受体（ER）和孕激素受体（PR）阴性的肿瘤中EGF阳性的频率相同（两者P均 = 0.05）。腋窝淋巴结状态、组织学类型、肿瘤大小、组织学分级、S期分数、有丝分裂指数或癌症复发与EGF表达均无统计学相关性。在多因素生存分析中，肿瘤大小（P = 0.007）、腋窝淋巴结受累情况（P = 0.003）和ER含量（P = 0.03）是独立的预后因素，而EGF阳性作为一个独立因素对生存无影响。然而，在单因素分析中，EGF阳性预示腋窝淋巴结阳性肿瘤有更有利的预后（P = 0.04）。结果表明，除了乳腺癌中已确立的预后因素外，EGF表达的免疫组织化学评估几乎没有任何临床意义。
