J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 94(12): 1231-1238, 1993

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Original article

IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF EXPRESSION OF EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR RECEPTORS IN GASTRIC CANCER

To evaluate the importance of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) in the growth and progression of human gastric cancer, we immunohistochemically stained EGFR in specimens of gastric cancer and compared the results with histopathological findings. Fresh frozen sections obtained from 65 cases of gastric cancer were stained by indirect immunostaining technique using Oncogene Scince Inc. Cat. No. GR01 (528 IgG reported by Kawamoto et al.) as anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody.
Of the 65 cases of gastric cancer, 17 (26.2%) were EGFR-positive. In differentiated cancer, EGFR was positive in 15 of 28 cases (53.6%) of advanced cancer, and 1of 14 (7.1 %) of early stage cancer. In undifferentiated cancer, 1 of 15 cases (6.7%) of advanced cancer was positive, but all 8 cases of early stage cancer were negative. In differentiated cancer, EGFR was more frequently positive in cases of advanced cancer than in those of early stage cancer (p＜0.05). These results suggest that EGFR are expressed or increase in the transition process from early to advanced stage cancer in differentiated gastric cancer. In addition, the lower EGFR-positive rate in cases of undifferentiated cancer than in those of differentiated cancer suggests that an increase in EGFR is not needed for cancer growth in most cases of undifferetiated cancer.

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