Abstract
The expression of mRNA for the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor, EGF and transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) was determined in 76 malignant, six borderline and 15 benign primary ovarian tumours using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and related to clinical and pathological parameters. Of the malignant tumours, 70% (53/76) expressed EGF receptor mRNA, 31% (23/75) expressed EGF mRNA and 35% (26/75) expressed TGF-alpha mRNA. For the borderline tumours, four of six (67%) expressed EGF receptor mRNA, 1/6 (17%) expressed TGF-alpha mRNA and none expressed EGF mRNA. Finally, 33% (5/15) of the benign tumours expressed EGF receptor mRNA, whereas 40% (6/15) expressed EGF mRNA and 7% (1/15) expressed TGF-alpha mRNA. The presence of the EGF receptor in malignant tumours was associated with that of TGF-alpha (P = 0.0015) but not with EGF (P = 1.00), whereas there was no relationship between the presence of EGF and TGF-alpha (P = 1.00). EGF receptor mRNA expression was significantly and positively associated with serous histology (P = 0.006) but not with stage or grade. Neither EGF nor TGF-alpha showed any link with histological subtype or stage. The survival of patients with malignant tumours possessing EGF receptor mRNA was significantly reduced compared with that of patients whose tumours were negative (P = 0.030 for all malignant tumours; P = 0.007 for malignant epithelial tumours only). In contrast, neither the expression of TGF-alpha nor EGF was related to survival. These data suggest that the presence of EGF receptor mRNA is associated with poor prognosis in primary ovarian cancer.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 24 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $10.79 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bartlett, J., Langdon, S., Simpson, B. et al. The prognostic value of epidermal growth factor receptor mRNA expression in primary ovarian cancer. Br J Cancer 73, 301–306 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1996.53
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1996.53
This article is cited by
-
UK recommendations for the management of transgender and gender-diverse patients with inherited cancer risks
BJC Reports (2023)
-
Production and quality control assessment of a GLP-grade immunotoxin, D2C7-(scdsFv)-PE38KDEL, for a phase I/II clinical trial
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (2017)
-
Radiolabeled pertuzumab for imaging of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 expression in ovarian cancer
European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (2017)
-
Ceramide limits phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase C2β-controlled cell motility in ovarian cancer: potential of ceramide as a metastasis-suppressor lipid
Oncogene (2016)
-
Sprouty4 mediates amphiregulin-induced down-regulation of E-cadherin and cell invasion in human ovarian cancer cells
Tumor Biology (2016)