Expression of epidermal growth factor and its receptor in gestational trophoblastic diseases

Molecular Alterations in Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors as Potential Predictors of Invasion in Complete Hydatidiform Moles (CHM)

“…A similar situation is reported in vesicular moles where over expression of EGFR correlated well with disease progression when assessed using antibodies to the internal domain [13]. Ligand binding assay, which measured the external ligand-binding domain of EGFR, and binding of antibody to the external domain, however, showed an inverse relationship with aggressiveness [12,13] suggesting the presence of receptors with either mutations or deletions of the external domain similar to that reported in glioblastomas [20,21]. The immunohistochemical and immunoblotting findings in the present study concur with previous reports, indicating an over expression of EGFR with regard to its intracellular domain and a down regulation with respect to its extracellular domain in invasive trophoblastic disease.…”

“…Many types of epithelial malignancies are reported to express increased levels of EGFR on the cell membrane, as determined mainly by immunohistochemistry (IHC) showing correlation with disease progression, poor survival, poor response to therapy [13,[16][17][18], tumour aggressiveness and development of resistance to cytotoxic agents [19]. A similar situation is reported in vesicular moles where over expression of EGFR correlated well with disease progression when assessed using antibodies to the internal domain [13].…”

“…In previous studies, a discrepancy was reported between EGFR expression in the non-invasive and invasive disease groups on using antibodies specific to the external and cytoplasmic domains. While a reduction was noticed in the expression of external domain of EGFR [12,13], the cytoplasmic domain was overexpressed in most cases of the invasive disease group [11,13]. This was also substantiated by the observation of a reduced binding of EGF to the EGFR in invasive disease.…”

“…Many types of epithelial malignancies are reported to express increased levels of EGFR on the cell membrane, as determined mainly by immunohistochemistry (IHC) showing correlation with disease progression, poor survival, poor response to therapy [13,[16][17][18], tumour aggressiveness and development of resistance to cytotoxic agents [19]. A similar situation is reported in vesicular moles where over expression of EGFR correlated well with disease progression when assessed using antibodies to the internal domain [13]. Ligand binding assay, which measured the external ligand-binding domain of EGFR, and binding of antibody to the external domain, however, showed an inverse relationship with aggressiveness [12,13] suggesting the presence of receptors with either mutations or deletions of the external domain similar to that reported in glioblastomas [20,21].…”

“…Since CHM involves the proliferation of trophoblastic cells which are epithelial in origin, EGFR may have a pivotal role in its pathogenesis [7]. While over expression of EGFR has been associated with molar placenta, reports on its clinical significance have been conflicting [8][9][10][11][12][13]. In previous studies, a discrepancy was reported between EGFR expression in the non-invasive and invasive disease groups on using antibodies specific to the external and cytoplasmic domains.…”