High EGFR mRNA expression is a prognostic factor for reduced survival in pancreatic cancer after gemcitabine-based adjuvant chemotherapy

Hayato Fujita, Kenoki Ohchida, Kazuhiro Mizumoto, Soichi Itaba, Tetsuhide Ito, Kohei Nakata, Jun Yu, Tadashi Kayashima, Akifumi Hayashi, Ryota Souzaki, Tatsuro Tajiri, Manabu Onimaru, Tatsuya Manabe, Takao OHTSuka, Masao Tanaka

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) still presents a major therapeutic challenge and a phase III clinical trial has revealed that the combination of gemcitabine and a human epidermal growth factor receptor type I (HER1/EGFR) targeting agent presented a significant benefit compared to treatment with gemcitabine alone. The aim of this study was to investigate EGFR mRNA expression in resected PDAC tissues and its correlation with patient prognosis. We obtained formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples from 88 patients with PDAC who underwent pancreatectomy, and measured EGFR mRNA levels by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The high-level EGFR group had significantly shorter disease-free-survival (p=0.029) and overall-survival (p=0.014) as shown by univariate analyses, although these did not reach statistical significance, as shown by multivariate analyses. However, we found that high EGFR expression was an independent prognostic factor in patients receiving gemcitabine-based adjuvant chemotherapy (p=0.023). Furthermore, we measured EGFR mRNA levels in 20 endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) cytological specimens. Altered EGFR levels were distinguishable in microdissected neoplastic cells from EUS-FNA cytological specimens compared to those in whole cell pellets. In conclusion, quantitative analysis of EGFR mRNA expression using FFPE tissue samples and microdissected neoplastic cells from EUS-FNA cytological specimens could be useful in predicting prognosis and sensitivity to gemcitabine in PDAC patients.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)629-641
Number of pages13
JournalInternational journal of oncology
Volume38
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration
  • Epidermal growth factor receptor
  • Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples
  • Pancreatic cancer
  • Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

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