Bucci B, D'Agnano I, Botti C, Mottolese M, Carico E, Zupi G, Vecchione A
Istituto Regina Elena, Roma, Italy.
Anticancer Res. 1997 Jan-Feb;17(1B):769-74.
We studied epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) expression in relation to steroid receptor status, flow cytometric DNA content and S-phase fraction (%S) in a selected case series of 129 ductal primary operable breast cancer to determine the possible role of EGF-R in prognosis assessment. EGF-R expression was positively related with proliferation activity, suggesting that EGF-R could be involved in the regulation of breast cancer cell growth. We found about 80% of highly proliferating DNA aneuploid tumors in the EGF-R positive category, while the EGF-R negative tumors showed a lower frequency of highly proliferating DNA aneuploid tumors (57%), confirming the important role of EGF-R in breast cancer aggressiveness and progression. No relationship between EGF-R expression and steroid receptor status was observed. To better understand how EGF-R and estrogen receptor (ER) operate together to stimulate breast cancer cell growth, we analyzed the %S in the two groups of ER negative (ER-) and ER positive (ER+) tumors, stratifying the patients on the basis of EGF-R tumor positivity. Here breast tumor proliferation activity seems mainly to be induced by the stimulus of EGF-R, the %S values of the EGF-R negative tumors in the ER- and ER+ groups being 6.1 and 6.9%, respectively. Instead, the median %S of EGF-R positive tumors was 10% in the ER- class and 14% in the ER+ group. The analysis of the percentages of 5-year patient disease free survival were 84% for patients with EGF-R negative tumors and 61% for patients with EGF-R positive lesions, respectively. The data reported here further show the crucial role of EGF-R in breast cancer cell growth and that the EGF-R overexpression is indicative of a poor prognosis.
在一组选定的129例原发性可手术导管乳腺癌病例系列中，我们研究了表皮生长因子受体（EGF-R）表达与类固醇受体状态、流式细胞术DNA含量及S期分数（%S）之间的关系，以确定EGF-R在预后评估中的可能作用。EGF-R表达与增殖活性呈正相关，提示EGF-R可能参与乳腺癌细胞生长的调控。我们发现EGF-R阳性组中约80%的肿瘤为高增殖性DNA非整倍体肿瘤，而EGF-R阴性肿瘤中高增殖性DNA非整倍体肿瘤的频率较低（57%），证实了EGF-R在乳腺癌侵袭性和进展中的重要作用。未观察到EGF-R表达与类固醇受体状态之间的关系。为了更好地理解EGF-R和雌激素受体（ER）如何共同作用刺激乳腺癌细胞生长，我们分析了ER阴性（ER-）和ER阳性（ER+）两组肿瘤中的%S，并根据EGF-R肿瘤阳性情况对患者进行分层。在此，乳腺肿瘤增殖活性似乎主要由EGF-R刺激诱导，ER-组和ER+组中EGF-R阴性肿瘤的%S值分别为6.1%和6.9%。相反，ER-组中EGF-R阳性肿瘤的%S中位数为10%，ER+组中为14%。EGF-R阴性肿瘤患者的5年无病生存率为84%，EGF-R阳性病变患者的5年无病生存率为61%。此处报告的数据进一步表明EGF-R在乳腺癌细胞生长中的关键作用，且EGF-R过表达提示预后不良。
