Prognostic value of EGFR and TGF-alpha in early laryngeal cancer treated with radiotherapy.

The purpose of this study was to determine the overexpression of both epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) (a ligand of EGFR) in early laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. In addition, we attempted to evaluate the prognostic values of our findings. Expression of EGFR and TGF-alpha in tumor tissue was examined immunohistochemically in 68 patients who had been treated with radiotherapy for early laryngeal cancer. Overexpression of the two factors was noted in 42.6% and 55.9%, respectively. No significant differences due to age, tumor size, and location or grade of cancer tissues were seen. Higher survival rates, found in patients with EGFR (-) and TGF-alpha (-) tumors as compared with those with EGFR (+) and TGF-alpha (+) (97.4%, 100% and 86.2%, 86.8%, respectively), were not statistically significant. The recurrence rates were similar between EGFR (+) and EGFR (-) (37.9% and 35.9%, respectively). However, the recurrence rate in patients with TGF-alpha (+) was significantly higher (57.9%) than in those with TGF-alpha (-) (10%; P<.01). Therefore overexpression of TGF-alpha may be an important indicator for recurrence in patients with early laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma treated by irradiation.