Evaluation of the tyrosine kinase receptor family in HNSCC
Problem: The superfamily of cell surface tyrosine kinase receptors plays an important role in fundamental cellular processes including cell cycle progression, migration, metabolism, proliferation, differentiation, and survival. Many human tumors express high levels of growth factor receptors, raisin...
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| Published in: | Otolaryngology-head and neck surgery Vol. 131; no. 2; p. P112 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Los Angeles, CA
Mosby, Inc
01-08-2004
SAGE Publications |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Problem: The superfamily of cell surface tyrosine kinase receptors plays an important role in fundamental cellular processes including cell cycle progression, migration, metabolism, proliferation, differentiation, and survival. Many human tumors express high levels of growth factor receptors, raising the possibility that receptor blockade may be useful as a cancer treatment strategy.
Methods: In order to identify those patients who may benefit from targeted therapy with inhibitors of EGFR and HER2 signaling pathways, we determined the expression status of EGFR and HER2 in tissue specimens from patients with the oral cavity and pharynx tumors by semiquantitative immunohistochemistry. Two pharmacodiagnostic kits EGFR (pharmDx™ and Hercep-Test™), were used in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions to identify head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients who overexpress EGFR or HER2.
Results: EGFR was overexpressed in 42.6% of 129 specimens, whereas the HER2 overexpression was observed in 3.1% of samples only. EGFR positivity of assessed tumors and stage of disease achieved a marginal correlation (p=0.046), whereas no other clinicopathological parameters such as T, N, M, or histological grading correlated with EGFR expression status.
Conclusion: Given the necessity for new therapeutic modalities in HNSCC, targeted treatment of patients that overexpress EGFR with its specific inhibitors appears to be reasonable. HER2 seems to be an inappropriate target for the treatment of head and neck cancer.
Significance: The ambition of the oncologist in the near future will be to achieve success with a lot of new agents targeting diverse tumor-associated molecules. With regard to this objective, the pharmacodiagnostic evaluation of the EGFR expression may significantly improve the assessment of HNSCC patients eligible for treatment with EGFR-specific inhibitors
Support: This work was supported by grants from Austrian science found (P14933 and P16301) and Tyrol science fund for medical research (50a). |
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| ISSN: | 0194-5998 1097-6817 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.otohns.2004.06.158 |